Falling
by Harmonics
Summary: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione find a picture of his parents, Sirius, Remus, and two girls they don't know, they'll hear the story they never have. The one no one wanted to tell.
1. The begining

My first multi-chapter Harry Potter story. I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter one

"Look at this mess." Hermione groaned as she picked up a stack of old yellowed papers and threw them back down on the floor, creating an explosion of dust. She covered her mouth and nose as it rose up, almost engulfing the three teens.

"I don't see why we have to clean this up, it's not like it's our crap," 15 year-old Ron Weasly mumbled as he sifted through some old books, throwing each one he found into a pile in a corner of the old, dusty library.

"Let's just get this over with, the sooner the better." Harry complained as he too, covered his nose and mouth while he picked up moldy looking things.

After what seemed like an eternity of sifting through books, papers, old dish rags, and the like, the three friends came upon a pile of pictures. It came up to Harry's knee, and they all looked like old, Black family portraits, they sorted through them anyways. Throwing out the ones that they knew Sirius wouldn't want, and keeping ones that he might want just in case.

"How many pictures can one person have?" Ron asked sorting the pictures into two piles.

Hermione sighed, "I don't know, just hurry up. I have a lot of homework that I have to finish before we go back to school."

Harry picked up one of the pictures that had fallen off of the top of the pile. There were letters written on the back. RRLJRS. Confused, Harry flipped over the picture. He was surprised to see who was on the front. There were two girls he didn't recognize, but the other four he knew to be Sirius, Remus, his mother, and his father.

"Do any of you recognize these people?" Harry asked turning the picture over, after one long, final look.

Hermione reached out and took the picture from Harry, first reading the back and then looking at the people on the front, like Harry had just done. Her brow furrowed in a confused look as she tried to recognize the people that she didn't know.

"It's Sirius, Remus, and your parents. I don't know who the other two are though," Hermione sighed apologetically, "Sorry Harry," she passed it to Ron then.

"I don't know either." Ron shrugged.

"You know, Sirius is in it. So is Remus, maybe they know," Hermione suggested, "Plus, we could use a break from cleaning."

"For once, I agree full-heartedly with you Hermione." Ron said brushing dust off of his pants and following Harry and Hermione out of the room and down the stairs into the kitchen where everyone was gathered for lunch.

Harry lingered in the doorway, Ron and Hermione standing awkwardly behind him. Sirius looked up and smiled at the three teens, "What can I do you for today?" Sirius asked jokingly.

"We've got buttered muffins!" Fred and George shouted at the same time.

"Fred! George! Sit down and eat your lunches right now!" Molly Weasly yelled pointing a wooden ladle at the two teenaged boys.

Harry approached Sirius nervously, as did Hermione and Ron. When he saw how edgy the three of them were he raised his eyebrows in confusion, "What's wrong with the three of you?"

"W-we found this in the library when we were cleaning, and we were curious." Harry said passing the picture over to Sirius.

Sirius took it and looked at it for a second before laughing, "Molly, look at this!" he said joyously, passing the picture over to her. Molly looked it over for a second before clasping a hand over her mouth and gasping in surprise.

"Where did you three get this?" Molly asked turning to look at the teenagers.

"We were just cleaning up like you told us too!" Ron exclaimed, like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

"Oh!" Molly kept her hand over her mouth as her eyes watered, "I remember this! I took this picture!"

"That you did Molly; it was the day after James and Lily's wedding…" As Sirius said this he got a distant look on his face.

"So…" Harry started, "Who are the other two girls?"

Sirius sighed and as he stood up, he took the picture from Molly and motioned for the kids to follow him. Instead of just the three teens, Fred and George followed too. They ended up in the sitting , and locking the door behind him, Sirius sat in one of the arm chairs. Still sighing, he ran a hand through his long hair and then passed the picture to Harry.

"The two girls in that picture…well I suppose they weren't girls since we were all nineteen at the time, but the two girls in that picture, they were our best friends. Remus, James, and I were best friends of course. Lily was best friends with these two girls. Ruby Taylor, and… and Reed Elliot."

"So, where are they now?" George asked, "Why aren't they here, in the order?"

Sirius laughed, "Ah. They would be. They would have thought that this was the most perfect thing in the world. They would have also thought it ironic that we had the base here at my old home."

"So, if they're not in the order…then… please tell me they aren't on Voldemort's side!" Hermione nearly yelled.

Sirius laughed at this too, "No, definitely not. Those two were the most honest and all around wonderful people I knew besides James, Remus, and Lily," Sirius paused again, "…No, the reason they're not here now is because they're dead."

"How long ago was it when they…passed away?"

"They were both killed only hours after this picture was taken…" Harry now knew why Sirius had gotten that faraway look when Molly had talked about the picture.

"H-How did they die?" Fred asked.

"Fred!" Hermione yelled.

"No, it's okay. Well, I would tell you, but it's a long story…" Sirius said.

"We have time to listen." Harry said intent on hearing the story.

Sirius laughed, "Well, I guess you do. It all started falling into place, I guess you could say, our fifth year at Hogwarts. We were at Hogsmead when it all started. God, we were all so happy, and we thought we knew everything…"

1975- 5th year students.

"Lily! Hurry, we're getting wet!" A girl with shoulder length curly hair and bright blue eyes yelled, giggling, waving her umbrella around.

"I'm coming!" Redheaded Lily Evans yelled as she too, giggled as the wind whipped her coat around her legs.

"God, Hogsmead is so rainy today." Reed Elliot, the curly headed blond laughed as they walked into the small café.

"Where's Ruby?" Lily asked as she shrugged off her coat and hung it on the coat hanger near the door.

"Hey!" The two girls turned around to see the brunette friend standing in the door, "So sorry I'm late Lily. _Reed_ gave me the wrong time." Ruby Taylor laughed as she too hung her coat up on the hanger.

"I did not! You're just blaming your chronic lateness problem on me!" Reed laughed as the three girls walked to the back of the café where the tables were.

"Oh god, look who's here." Lily said trying to hide her face behind Reed's back.

"Yo! Evans!" James Potter yelled as he waved a hand, and ran the other through his shaggy black hair.

"Hey James!" Reed yelled, pulling Lily with her to the table.

"Hey there, little cousin." James said pulling Reed into a one-armed hug.

"Come and sit down!" James said motioning to the three open seats at the table.

Reed pranced over and took a seat between James and Remus, "Hello Reed." Remus said smiling at her, "How was your vacation?"

"It was… it was okay. Uh… how was yours?" Reed asked twitching nervously in her seat.

"About the same, nothing special."

Sirius chose that time to burst out into a booming laugh. It was obvious that Reed got nervous when she talked to Remus, and everyone knew why, except for Remus of course. Sirius motioned to a seat, as Ruby, sat next to only seat left was in between Ruby and James, which was where Lily was forced to sit.

"So Evans," James started, "What are you guys doing here?"

"I have a name you know!" Lily seethed, "And we can go anywhere we want to, thank you very much!"

"Sorry," James mumbled, which wasn't something he did often, "I was just asking."

Lily sat down in a huff, obviously not pleased with her sitting arrangements. She was even rude to the waitress when she asked her what she wanted to eat and drink. Reed sighed, and leaning across the table she took one of Lily's hands in her own and smiled.

"Calm down okay?" Reed whispered.

"I am calm." Lily growled. She sighed then, "You're right. I'm sorry."

"What's with all the whispering?" James asked.

"They were talking about how sexy I am," Sirius smiled, and wiggled his eyebrows, "Weren't you?"

"Get over yourself, please. It's not a very becoming trait." Remus said taking a sip of his water.

"Seriously, Sirius, get a life." Reed laughed.

"You know, that stupid pun of your guys' is really getting annoying, seriously." Sirius said sending everyone, even Lily into spasms of laughter.

"Ah! Looked who the snake dragged in!" James said looking up.

Lily turned her head to see who he was talking about, and froze, "Please, James not in here." She pleaded.

"Hi Severus!" Reed smiled waving. She was genuinely happy to see him, as she was with most anyone she saw.

"God," Sirius muttered, "Hi Severus!" he mimicked in a high voice, trying to make fun of Reed.

Reed turned around to glare at Sirius, "Please, be nice for once."

"Why should I?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows rose.

"Because we're in a public place!" Lily yelled.

"Because he's nice to me." Reed said.

"What exactly do you consider nice, Reed?" Remus asked trying to keep his head down.

"Well, he waves to me in the hallway." Reed said.

"Yeah, When Francesca isn't around." Ruby laughed.

"He's never made fun of me either, so don't be mean!" Reed said looking straight at James when she said it.

"Okay I promise, I won't be mean to him. I swear," James said half-heartedly, "You're lucky you're my cousin."

"If you want to know what I think," Ruby said, taking a sip of her tea, "I think he just wants to butter your muffin."

Remus chose that time to spit his water out in surprise. It went all over the place, but mostly just Reed's shirt. Remus quickly grabbed a napkin, and started trying to wipe it off, only to realize that most of it was around a place that he shouldn't be touching, especially not with James sitting there, so he apologized for that as well.

Reed laughed, taking the napkin from Remus, assuring him that she was just fine in the process, "Really, it's okay. I have a tutoring session with Sprout that I have to go to, so I'll see you guys' later okay?" Reed asked getting up.

"Please tell me you aren't failing Herbology." Lily groaned.

"No, I just need help for the final is all. You can split my food with someone else, okay?" Reed got up from the table and started towards the door, she stopped at the coat hanger before leaving.

They watched her, as she stood on her tip toes, trying to get her coat off of the hanger. Someone must have moved it to a taller peg, and being only 5' 2" Reed wasn't very tall.

"Maybe you could go be her knight in shinning armor, and get her coat for her Mooney." Sirius said waggling his eyebrows.

"I don't think I need to, someone else has it." Remus sighed.

The rest of the table turned to look at who Remus was talking about. Severus Snape was standing beside Reed, getting her coat off of the top peg for her. They could see Reed thanked him a million times over, as he even helped her into her rain coat. They started talking about something that they couldn't hear, and Reed wrote something down on a piece of paper and passed it to him with a smile.

"I told you he wanted to butter her muffin. She probably just wrote down a time for him to meet her in the library so they can get it on." Ruby said.

"That's not funny!" James yelled, as he tried not to choke on his food, it looked like Remus was doing the same, "That's it! That creep needs to leave her alone."

"James, sit down!" Lily yelled grabbing his arm.

"Not until I know what he wants from her." James said storming off.

"It can't be much; I thought he was going with Francesca." Sirius said watching James's back as he walked over to Severus.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Lily yelled desperately.

"No," Sirius said shrugging, "You can't do anything when James is involved, it's better to just let them hit each other." Sirius took a bite out of his sandwich.

"They just pulled their wands out on each other." Ruby sighed, "And here I thought James promised Reed he would be nice. I hope she doesn't hear about this one."

"Oh god! Did you just see that!" Lily asked, as Severus flew over one of the empty tables.

"There's nothing you can do Lily, just let them battle it out. In the mean time, I'm going to leave, so I can't get in trouble for any of this." Remus said leaving money on the table and calmly exiting the café through the back door.

"I think Remus has a good idea." Ruby said, leaving money for her food, she left through the back door as well. Sirius and Lily were right behind her.

So, how did you like it? Trust me, it picks up after this chapter! Please, please, please, please Review when you're done reading, it makes my day to see reviews from you guys! And if you didn't like it, then don't tell me how much you hated it. You didn't have to read it! But Constructive critizism is welcome


	2. Of Wolfsbane and Chocolate

Hello! So, I've gotten a ton of hits on this story, and although that makes me really happy, I would also enjoy it if the people who were reading reviewed as well! It always makes me happy to see a review!

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter Two: Of Wolfsbane and Chocolate.

"Now, who can tell me how to correctly do this spell? Because it seems like a lot of you have no idea." Professor McGonagall said looking down her nose at her class.

Reed raised her hand, just so they wouldn't get yelled at. But like always, McGonagall called on Lily instead, so she put her hand down. Besides, she was to busy searching the room for Remus, who was absent today, like he was every month around this time.

What was even worse was that James, Sirius, and Peter were gone as well. This wasn't as weird, but she couldn't imagine that they would skip this class after what happened last time. Ruby caught Reed's attention and asked her what was wrong.

Reed smiled, and shook her head, it wasn't any use getting Ruby or Lily worried with her. Ruby had enough to worry about when it came to Sirius anyways. When Reed turned back around, McGonagall was standing in front of her desk.

"I would like to know what's more important then my class." She said looking first at Reed, and then at Ruby.

"Reed is worried about Remus, because he's in the infirmary…again." Ruby said answering for the both of them.

"Ruby!" Reed yelled loud enough that the rest of the girls in the class turned to look at her red face and giggled.

Lily rolled her eyes at her two friends and studied the paper where she had written 'I hate James Potter.' Over and over and over again. Lily sighed, crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the trash bin beside her table.

"Did you hear me Ms. Evans?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Lily snapped her head up and opened her mouth to respond when the door flew open and Sirius, James, and Peter walked into the room.

"Sorry McGonagall, we had a… situation." Sirius said as he came in and took his place next to Ruby, while James took his place next to Peter.

Reed looked around; Remus didn't come in with them. She sighed and laid her head on the table waiting for the bell to ring. She turned around when something hit her on the back. She looked down at the piece of paper that sat on the floor behind her chair; picked it up, and quietly unfolded it. It was from Sirius.

"Remus is fine, so don't worry. Anyways, you'll probably faint in potions so at least you'll have an excuse to see him."

There was a little doodle drawn on the bottom of it, of what she supposed was meant to be her fainting in potions class. Reed turned around to glare at Sirius and dropped the note into the waste basket next to her table. Sirius made fainting motions as she glared at him and stuck out her tongue. Just as she was about to make an obscene gesture, she heard her name.

"Reed? We need you in the headmaster's office." Arthur Weasly said as he stood in the doorway of the transfiguration classroom.

"Okay." Reed grabbed her coat and the rest of her books as she followed Arthur out of the classroom and to the headmaster's office. While they were walking, Reed decided to ask Arthur what she had wanted to ask everyone today.

"Arthur, have you seen Remus today?"

"No, not personally. Molly told me she was up to see him already today though. Said he looked something terrible." Arthur replied whispering the password to the Griffin that guarded the headmaster's office, "Well there you go. He should be expecting you."

The pillar shook and then started moving in a clockwise circle, up until a stairwell was revealed. Reed waved goodbye to Arthur, who had already started to leave, and climbed the stairs to Dumbledore.

"Ah, Ms. Elliot. How are you today?" Albus asked as he was sitting behind his desk, reading something.

"Good, thank you." Reed twitched nervously. She had never been up here before, and the moving, talking pictures of all the past headmasters were making her nervous.

"I have a special request I would like to make of you, if you do not mind of course."

"On no, absolutely. What can I do?" Reed asked walking closer to the desk.

"I would've had Hagrid do it, or even another professor, but it seems that none of them are available."

"Sure, anything you need, I can get it." Reed said happily.

"I'd like for you to take a companion, as you shouldn't go alone, but go to Nocturne alley this weekend to pick up a few things for me. As you see, I'm much to busy to do it myself. Could I suggest taking James or Sirius with you?"

"Would you mind if I took both of them?" Reed asked, Nocturne alley made almost everyone but the Slytherin house uncomfortable.

"If you wish too, you may. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable," Albus finished writing whatever it was he was writing on a piece of parchment, and passed it to her, "This is a list of what we need. It's very precise, so please follow it to the very last letter."

Reed took the list and nodded nervously, what was so important that he would send a student, much less a non-Slytherin, to Nocturne alley? Reed took that as permission to leave, and headed for the staircase.

"Be careful, okay Ms. Elliot?" Albus said before she descended the stairwell. Reed nodded, and with that she left.

...

"Who needs 15 pounds of wolfs bane?" Reed asked skimming through the list that Albus had given her, "And wolves fur? What is he trying to make? Wolf bane potion? Why would he need that anyways?"

"Maybe Dumbledore is a werewolf!" Sirius laughed with James.

"You really think so?" Reed asked stopping to look at them.

"Well…uh, no. Why, would it matter if he was?" James asked.

"Well, no I suppose not. It would just be horrible is all. How could he run the school when he'd be so tired all the time? Poor guy."

"You have no idea." James muttered.

"What'd you say?" Reed asked turning her head to look at the two boys.

"Nothing!" Sirius yelled quickly.

"This place is creepy," Reed said as they entered one of the shops on the list. She passed the list to James and hid behind him.

"Sirius, is that who I think it is?" James asked pointing to a person with long black hair talking to the shop keeper.

"Dear god it is," Sirius sighed, "Hello mother!" he yelled making the lady turn around, to reveal Mrs. Black.

"Ah. Sirius, hello. Angus, have you met my eldest son, Sirius?"

The man at the counter shook his head and peered at Reed who was still trying to hide behind James.

"You girl, who are you?" She asked motioning for her to come forward.

James looked behind him; Reed had a look of shock and nervousness on her face. She looked like a deer in the headlights. James pushed her forward, enjoying her embarrassment.

"That's Reed!" Sirius said in a hurry, "Severus' girlfriend!"

"Sirius!" Reed hissed turning to look at him in anger.

"Really? Well aren't you adorable, come here, let me get a better look at you."

Reed stepped closer to Sirius's mother. She took Reed's chin in between her thumb and forefinger to get a better look at her face.

"Yes, quite a looker, don't you think so Lucius?"

Lucius Malfoy, who had been standing there the whole time, but no one bothered to notice, stepped out of the shadows to take a better look at the girl.

"And the freaks keep coming." Sirius whispered to James.

"Yes, almost as pretty as Narcissa, not quite though." Doing the same as Mrs. Black to get a better look at her face.

"Well, it was wonderful seeing you again Sirius. Behave at school will you? God knows you've already made enough of a mess for us." And with that, Mrs. Black and Lucius were out of the shop, and out of sight.

"What the hell was that for? You could have said something!" Reed yelled turning on the two teenage boys.

"Hey, don't look at us, we saved you. If you had been my girlfriend, my mother would have called you a whore, and some other bad names. And if I would have introduced you as an Elliot, you would have been wizarding trash. You know how my mother hates Aurors. But instead I introduce you as Severus' girlfriend, and she thought you were adorable. See how it works?"

"But! God, I thought they were going to rape me or something!" Reed shivered as she took her spot back behind James as Sirius asked for all the stuff on the list.

"Don't worry Reed, Mrs. Black is scary, but I don't think she would hurt you," James laughed.

"Yeah, says the boy who fed me to her in the first place."

"Kay, I got all the stuff!" Sirius said coming back with a large burlap sack.

"Good. I want to get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible, this place gives me a bad feeling." Reed said as she clung to James's arm.

"Alright, let's go. I want to get out of here as soon as possible too." James said, leading them out of the store. On the way back, they passed a candy store, and Reed asked them to stop.

"Why? You don't even like candy." James sighed, he was ready to get back even though they were in Diagon alley instead of Nocturne.

"I want to get Remus some chocolate." Reed said entering the store.

"Don't we get any?" Sirius asked, "Why just him?"

"Because you two weren't sick all weekend." Reed said looking though all of the colorful candy.

After paying for it, Reed dropped two little bags in each of their hands, "Here, I got you both some for coming with me today. So thank you."

"You are welcome!" Sirius said untying the bag and digging into what she had bought them.

"Look at this," Reed stopped and ripped off a poster from one of the shop windows, "It's horrible."

Sirius took the poster out of Reed's hands to examine it, "It's a bunch of rubbish. Honestly, I don't see the big deal about this guy, Dumbledore could off him in a second." Sirius said passing the poster to James.

"It's disgusting, that's what it is." He said as he threw the poster talking about the recently named He-who-must-not-be-named into the trash, "That guy is a pig."

Reed looked at the poster, crumbled up in the trash can. She had nothing to worry about. What Sirius said had to be true. Dumbledore was the strongest wizard in the world. There was no way that this monster could take over like he wanted too.

And then, for a single horrible moment, Reed thought about what would happen. This monster was only after non-purebloods. So in all reality she had nothing to worry about, she could prove she was a pureblood nearly nine generations back. If he asked her to join him or die, which would she choose? Reed scolded herself, of course she would rather die. Lily wasn't a pureblood. Neither was Ruby.

"Reed! Stop dilly-dallying! We need to get back to school!" James called, they were already a couple yards ahead of her.

Reed placed every single thought she had had about the monster in the back of her head. There was no use in worrying about it. Besides, he wouldn't get far enough to cause to much of a ruckus anyways. Reed smiled, and with one last look at the trash can, she ran ahead to catch up with James and Sirius.

Another big thanks to those of you who are reviewing this story!

REVIEW! Please?


	3. Howling To The Moon

Here's chapter three! I hope you all like it! Please Read and Review. Reviews make me happy! : ]

Chapter three: Howling to the moon

Remus Lupin was enjoying the peaceful sleep that he so rarely got. His dreams this time were just that, dreams, not nightmares. He dreamt about Lily and James, about Ruby and Sirius, and about Reed. Reed Elliot was not a girl that Remus should be dreaming about. First off, she was off limits as James's cousin. Secondly, she was popular amongst the other Gryffindor students, as well as amongst the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. Lastly, he was a werewolf, and therefore not good enough for her.

It's not like it mattered anyways. He had no wish to be with Reed Elliot, it was just his silly teenage boy hormones that were sending him off the edge. But still, even if they were just hormones, he could still dream. He sighed as Reed's face came into view. Her soft, curly, blond hair tickled his cheeks and neck. He could even smell the sweet smell of plums that seemed to radiate off of her skin. It must be her body wash.

"Hey there, sleepy head!" Reed giggled as she kept her head hovering right above his own. This was the best dream he had ever had in his life, "Remus, are you okay?" Reed asked.

"Can I have a get well kiss?" Remus asked. Of course he would only ask this in a dream. If there was one thing Remus Lupin was not, besides normal, it was good with the girls. Of course it helped that James didn't exist right now, so he might as well go all out.

"Of course silly!" Reed smiled as she bent down and placed a soft kiss on his weathered skin, "I hope that helps you get better!"

"I hope to god that you're sleep talking Remus." That was James's voice.

Remus bolted up in his bed and looked to the left. He saw a smiling Reed and a laughing Ruby. Then he looked to the right where he saw a cross looking James and a bored looking Lily and Sirius.

"Now that you're up, I can give you this!" Reed said passing the little baggie over to him.

Remus took it out of Reed's hands and opened it gingerly, there were four chocolate frogs inside. Remus took it out and placed it on the bedside table, "Thank you Reed."

"No problem. If you pinch it a little while it's still in the wrapper, it's easier to eat. How are you feeling anyways? This is the fourth time you've been in the hospital this year!" Reed had a worried look on her face.

"Once a month," Ruby said raising an eyebrow, "I wonder why?" She placed a sly smile on her face.

"Must be a reoccurring cold, hm?" Remus asked narrowing his eyes.

"Which reminds me!" Sirius yelled all of a sudden, "Guess which pretty little Gryffindor fifth year is dating a Slytherin fifth year?" Reed looked just as surprised as everyone else in the room when she asked who. Of course she had no idea what Sirius was about to say, "Reed is now the official girlfriend of Severus Snape!"

"What!" Lily, Ruby, and Remus all seemed to have the same reaction to the news.

"I'm not going out with him, I swear!" Reed yelled all of a sudden, "It's a funny story actually. So James, Sirius, and I were in Nocturne Alley."

"Why were you in Nocturne Alley?" Remus asked.

"Dumbledore wanted me to get him some really weird stuff," Reed dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Anyways, so we're in Nocturne Alley, and we meet Sirius's mother in one of the creepy shops there. Sirius decides he's going to be an asshole and he tells his mother that I am dating Severus. Which is so not true. So anyways, she and Lucius Malfoy had a grand old time looking me up," Reed paused to take in a breath of air, "And that's basically what happened." She ended her speech with a wide smile.

"Oh, and Francesca Corleone is going to beat her up." Ruby said as she took a sip of the pumpkin juice that had been on Remus's lunch tray.

"What?" Reed cried as she spun around on her heel to face her, "What do you mean she's going to beat me up?"

"Francesca likes her boy toys. You, even if just by rumor, took one of them away. If she doesn't at least punch you by tonight, I'll be surprised," Ruby let a wide, sly smile take over her face.

Reed's face grew red with embarrassment. James laughed, "Don't worry Reed, we'll save you."

"Yeah," Lily said putting her book down for the first time, "Don't count on it."

...

"Lily, are you asleep?" Ruby asked turning over in her bunk..

Lily turned over in her own bed to face Ruby, "Not anymore. Can't you bother Reed? Isn't she up?"

"No. She's drooling on her pillow."

"Again? I thought we trained her already." Lily laughed. Reed had a problem with drooling on her pillow. It was a problem that was dealt with last year when Lily had to share a bed with her, and had woken up with a wet cheek.

"Do you like Sirius, Lily?" Ruby asked suddenly.

"No. God, of course not," Lily scoffed even thinking about it.

"Do you think Reed does?" Ruby asked again, her voice getting quieter so she wouldn't wake Reed up.

"Uh no, she only has her baby blues set on Remus. If you ask me, I don't even think she knows Sirius is a man."

"Oh. Well, if you say so then." Ruby's voice drifted off.

"Sirius is an okay guy Ruby. Sure he comes from a family of complete idiots who can't see past their own selfish ways, but he isn't like the rest of them. If you want him, ask him out," Lily sighed and turned over in her bed, pulling her sheets further up her shoulders.

The two girls laid in silence besides the occasional grumble from their sleeping house mates. Ruby took in a deep breath, like she wanted to say something, but she let it go.

"If you have something to say Ruby," Lily sighed, not turning over, "why don't you say it?"

"Well..." Ruby wasn't exactly sure where to start out, "Reed is going to stay at James's house over Christmas break… and she asked me if I wanted to come. Naturally I said yes, I mean Sirius and Remus are going to be there too."

"And?" Lily asked wanting her to get to the point so she could get to sleep.

"Well, Reed didn't want to ask you because she was afraid you'd say no, so she asked me too."

"Ask me what Ruby?" Lily asked tired of beating around the bush.

"Ask you if you want to come too?" Ruby asked.

Lily was silent for a moment. Did she want to go? Sure, she would be with Reed and Ruby. They were her best friends, how could she not say yes? But then again, she would be stuck in the same house with James for a whole week. When she thought about that, how could she not say no?

Lily looked up at the sleeping Reed. She was on the top bunk, with Ruby sleeping on the bottom one. If she said no to Reed, she would feel like a complete and utter witch. No pun intended. Worse, Reed would think it was her fault that she didn't want to go. Lily didn't want Reed to blame herself. But which was worse? Having Reed sad or staying under the same roof as James for a whole week?

"Lily, do you want to go?" Ruby asked again, afraid that Lily had gone back to sleep.

Lily sighed, "I'll think about it."

Ruby smiled to herself, knowing Lily, it was a good answer so far.

...

"So Wood, are you going to blow your face up again?" Ruby asked as she looked over at her desk mate in Charms class.

"No! It was only one time, and you know it!" Matthew Wood yelled angrily, waving his wand around, trying to make his gold cup turn blue.

Lily, Remus, Ruby, and Severus were the only students who were successful for the time being at turning their cup the color they had been assigned.

"Yo, Ruby. Come help me turn my cup purple." Sirius yelled across the classroom.

"No, Mr. Black, you should ask nicely!" Professor Flitwick squeaked.

"Ruby, would you please help me turn my cup purple?" Sirius asked in a nice, mockingly sweet tone.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him, but she stood up from the desk she shared with Matt and walked over to Sirius's, which he shared with no one. As James tried unsuccessfully to turn his cup green again, Ruby leaned over to talk to Lily, whom had long ago turned her cup white.

"So do you think you're going to come?" Ruby asked whispering.

Reed, whom had just finished turning her cup orange, looked at the two and smiled widely. She started to get up, but James called her over to help him with his cup.

"Well," Lily said looking over at Reed, who was obviously frustrated with trying to get James to swing his wand the right way, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

"Great!" Ruby said, not so quietly anymore, "Reed!" She yelled across the classroom like Sirius had done minutes before, "Lily is coming!"

"Coming where?" Remus asked looking up from his text book.

"To Reed and James's house for Christmas!" Ruby smiled.

"You live with James?" Remus asked shutting his notebook.

"Yeah…" Reed shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "It's a recent thing, so I didn't tell everyone yet."

Ruby, had heard about the recent move, although no one else but Sirius and James did. Reed had a happy family. Her mother and her father got along. This was what it seemed like on the outside. But after they had a terrible fight, Reed's father ran off, disappeared. And Reed's mother, Artemesia, decided she no longer needed a daughter, since her new boyfriend didn't want kids at all. So Reed's stuff had been shipped to James's house, and that's where she would live for the rest of her Hogwarts career.

"Wait, so Lily's coming?" James asked giving up on his cup.

"Yes. As my guest James, so don't be a slob like you normally are!" Reed teased.

"Me? A pig, no way," James waved his hand to dismiss the thought.

Sirius nudged Ruby in the ribs until she stopped focusing on the others, and started focusing on him. She sighed, exasperated, but didn't mind. Every time Sirius touched her, a chill went down her spine.

"What Sirius?" Ruby asked turning towards him.

Her long, mousy brown hair swished around her face as she spun to face him. It framed her small round face perfectly. It fell out from behind her ear and she quickly pushed it back in place. She blushed when she noticed he was staring at her.

"Are you going to James's with us?" Sirius asked.

"Yes I am. Why?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes at him again.

"Well I figured, three of us, three of you. We could have some pretty wild times my dear little Ruby." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Keep dreaming Black. Lily hates James, Remus thinks if he touches Reed she'll break into a million little pieces, and the fact that he has a quote, furry problem," Ruby made air quotes when she said furry problem.

"You know about Mooney's problem?" Sirius asked his eyes going wide.

"Who doesn't know? Besides you guys basically give it away. You call him Mooney. He's in the infirmary once a month, always the day after a full moon. I can't believe people are still buying that rabbit shit." Ruby scoffed.

"What about my rabbit?" Remus asked turning in his chair to look at the two of them.

"Yeah Remus, your rabbit." Ruby said sarcastically.

"She…knows." Sirius said finally, still unable to believe it.

"She knows?" James asked.

"About Mooney's problem," Sirius confirmed, "She knows."

"You know?" James asked turning so he could look at her.

"I know." Ruby said smiling.

"What does Ruby know?" Lily asked hearing the commotion they were making.

"About Remus's problem, she knows." James grumbled.

"You mean his rabbit?" Reed asked, "Everyone knows about the rabbit."

Lily groaned.

"His other problem Reed," Ruby said before the others could stop her.

"You have another problem?" Reed asked Remus.

Remus sat in his chair, unable to think. Reed was going to find out, it was inevitable now. Hell, the whole class might figure it out if they kept talking as loud as they were.

"So you have two badly behaved bunnies?" Reed asked.

"Yes!" James said quickly, trying to avert disaster.

"No. He doesn't even have a rabbit." Ruby whispered.

"Yes, he does." Sirius said kicking Ruby under the table.

Lily sighed, it was too late now, might as well let the cat out of the bag, "He doesn't have a rabbit."

"What is wrong over there?" Professor Flitwick yelled.

"Nothing. It's fine, sorry professor." Lily apologized.

"She doesn't know, let's keep it that way." James said fiercely.

"What don't I know?" Reed cried, frustrated.

"NOTHING!" Remus yelled loudly.

Reed shrunk back in her chair at Remus's angry shout. She hadn't been expecting him to yell like that.

"What you don't know is that your dear little Remus here is a werewolf." Francesca Corleone said quietly in Reed's ear, her Italian accent was just barely recognizable in her voice.

"Do you have a death wish Corleone?" James yelled whipping out his wand.

"Try me," Francesca said, a wide smile covering her face.

"You're a werewolf?" Reed asked looking at Remus.

"Yes. Are you happy now that you know?" Remus asked, poison dripping off of every word that came from his mouth.

Reed shrunk further back into her seat. He had been mad when he yelled, but now, he just sounded… Reed didn't know what he sounded like, but it hurt her to hear him talk to her like that.

Sirius stood up to help back James up against Francesca. Francesca Corleone was a fifth year Slytherin who enjoyed tormenting the group of friends. She was bred to do just that. With her long black, slick hair and her olive colored skin, it was easy to see that Francesca belonged to an Italian family, one you didn't cross.

Ruby looked at the mess that was about to unfold. Francesca, Sirius, and James all had their wands out, and many of the Slytherin students were standing to aid Francesca in her fight. Ruby looked over at Reed. She was looking down at the floor, her eyes watering. The drops of tears falling down her face were obvious to see.

Before anyone could stop anything, the spells went flying. Lily grabbed both Ruby and Reed by their robes and sprinted out of the classroom with them close behind. Once outside, the three girls could hear the bangs and booms coming from inside the charms classroom.

The door flew open and Sirius came flying out. Ruby bent down to survey the damage done. He had minor cuts and bruises and his cheek was bleeding a little bit, but other then that he seemed to be perfectly fine.

"I swear I heard someone yell Cruccio." Sirius said standing and brushing his robes off.

"Seriously?" Lily asked wide-eyed.

"Seriously." Sirius said.

The three were about to go back in and get James and Remus out of the classroom, but an overhead intercom boomed over the school and froze them in their place. It was McGonagall's voice, and she sounded angry.

"All fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins, report to the Great Hall right now! If you're not all there in five minutes, every single one of you will be expelled!"

So, I kind of love this chapter. Anyways, please Review! I'll update faster if you do!


	4. Home sweet home

Okay, so here's chapter four! I hope you guys like it! And I'm so sorry for how long it took to update, school has been hectic!

Anyways the chapters will be up a lot faster now.

If you find any spelling mistakes or grammer mistakes that I missed, please don't hesitate to point them out so I can fix it! ^^;

* * *

Chapter four. 

After every Slytherin and Gryffindor in Professor Flitwick's third Charms class of the day was given a detention and sent back to their rooms. Sirius, Ruby, and Reed were sitting on the stairs to the boy's rooms, while Lily, James, and Remus were sitting on the couch, out of ear-shot.

"I think we should talk about what happened today," when she was met with blank stares she narrowed her eyes, "I mean it."

"What's there to talk about?" James asked scoffing, "It's pretty self-explanatory."

"Look at her!" Lily hissed, looking back at Reed whom was being comforted by Ruby and Sirius, "She has no idea what's going on! You're her cousin aren't you? You're supposed to look out for her!"

"What'd you suppose their talking about?" Sirius asked as he looked at the three sitting by the couch.

"Who cares, Reed honey, are you okay?" Ruby asked poking her in her ticklish spots, trying to get a positive reaction, she didn't move.

"She's asleep," Sirius said laughing, "Leave it to her to fall asleep when the biggest bomb was just dropped."

"Right, well I hope everything smooths out before we go to their house over Christmas." Ruby sighed, this was going to be one hectic vacation.

"It'll be fine, Moony will get over it sooner or later. He can't go on moping forever you know."

"He better get over himself. Honestly I don't see what the big deal is, it's not like the whole class heard what Francesca said, and besides, you guys would have done something before she had a chance."

"We did do something," Sirius put a wide smile on his face, "God was that fun," Then on a more serious note he said, "Don't worry about Remus, he'll be fine in a couple of days."

Ruby scoffed, "He better be, or I'll set him straight."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows, "You can set me straight."

Ruby scoffed and stood up, hitting Sirius on her way out of the common rooms so she could get to her next class.

Divination was possibly Ruby's least favorite class. The teacher, Yolanda Aria was what made her hate the class so much.

"Okay class!" Professor Aria yelled, "Light up your incense!"

"She's lighting up more then just incense," Ruby whispered over the table to Lily.

Lily scoffed, and lit her incense. Ruby did the same thing, very slowly.

"Today, we'll be reading tea leaves!" Aria yelled, "Doesn't that make you all happy?"

"It makes me want to kill myself, that's what it makes me." Ruby snorted.

"Alright, let's just get this over with, I'll do yours first, give me your tea cup." Lily held her hand out, and Ruby slowly passed her the porcelain cup.

Lily stared at Ruby's cup for a minute or two. She opened her divination book to the tea reading encyclopedia and started skimming over the page. She flipped to the next page and skimmed over that one as well. All of a sudden, Lily shut her book with a loud bang, and looked up at Ruby with a serious look on her face.

"What I have is a reindeer, and a black hat." Lily said, still serious.

"Well…" Ruby started, "What does that mean?"

"Sometime in the near future," Lily said still completely calm, "Santa will kill you."

The two girls stared at each other for a few moments. Neither one of them saying anything. Ruby was processing what Lily had just said. Lily was waiting for a reaction. Out of nowhere, the two girls burst out laughing. Ruby leaned over and took Lily's tea cup.

"Let's see what we have here." Ruby looked into the tea cup, and then like Lily had done she looked up what she thought she saw in the tea leaf encyclopedia. Ruby froze when she looked seemed to have found what she was looking for.

"What?" Lily asked, "What does it say?"

"Nothing. That's just it. I get killed by Santa Claus, and you get to have a happy family."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked.

Ruby passed Lily's teacup back over to her, "What does that look like to you?"

Lily looked at it for a moment before she answered, "A baby I guess."

"Right," Ruby said, "And the baby means that you'll have a happy family, but then it also has a little arch looking thing at the bottom, symbolizing a dislike for someone. So you're going to have a happy family, with someone you dislike."

Lily scoffed, "That's ridiculous, and why would I have a family with someone I hate?"

"Oooh!" Ruby yelled all of a sudden, "Maybe you're going to have James's baby!" Ruby started to giggle, "Lily and James snogging in a tree, S-N-O-G-G-I-N-G!"

"Shut up!" Lily giggled, "You're lying!"

"The tea leaves never lie Lily." Ruby laughed.

"In that case, I hope Santa kills you over Christmas break." Lily said narrowing her eyes.

"I'll try and make that happen for your sake." Ruby laughed as the chimes letting them know they were dismissed from class rang.

"Let's get out of here." Lily said grabbing her stuff, she and Ruby headed for the door with the other students.

"Class!" Aria yelled, "The chimes don't dismiss you! I do!"

Everyone waited in their seats until the chimes finished ringing. Aria smiled and dismissed the students. Reed and James caught up with Lily and Ruby on their way out.

"So," Reed started, "I'm supposed to kill a teacher, and James is supposed to have a baby. I'm not sure if it meant he was having the baby, or his future wife was having the baby though." Reed smiled.

"Ruby's on Santa's naughty list, so naughty, he's going to kill her." Lily laughed.

"That sounds kinky," James said smiling, "Very kinky, maybe we can get Sirius to dress up as Santa and the two of you could have some fun."

"No thank you. Santa isn't exactly on my to do list." Ruby sighed.

One Week later….

"Reed hurry up, the train is going to leave without you on it!" Ruby yelled holding her hand out for Reed to grab, when she did, Ruby helped her on the train.

"Pass me the bunny," James said as he took Reed's pet rabbit snowball.

Reed was hoisted on the train just as it started moving. She turned on her heel, grabbed snowball's cage, and followed Lily and Ruby down the train corridor. Sirius watched her retreating back.

"What's her problem?" he asked turning to James.

James shrugged and followed the girls down the corridor to meet Remus who had gone ahead to save the boys a compartment.

"So Reed, have you talked to Remus today?" Ruby asked leaning against the compartment window.

"No, she hasn't," Lily answered for her, "If he would get his head out of that ass of his, it might have been okay."

"I'm fine, I don't need him anyways." Reed muttered quietly.

"Yeah, somehow I don't believe you when you say that." Ruby laughed, Reed narrowed her eyes, and Lily went back to reading her book.

"Actually," Lily said placing her book in her lap, "I think the lot of them are being pigheaded."

Ruby looked up from her unfinished homework, and then looked over to Reed, "Let's go put a stink bomb in their compartment."

Reed was the first one out of the compartment, followed by Lily, and then Ruby. They walked past a few compartments before they reached the boys seven compartments down. Reed looked back at Lily.

"Are we going to get in trouble for this?" She asked taking out her wand.

"We're still technically on school grounds, so we can use magic." Lily assured her as she and Ruby both took out their own wands.

The three girls muttered the same charm and watched as the gray smoke sputtered from the ends of their wands. When Ruby counted to three, they opened the door, and covering their faces they stuck their wands in the compartment, and as it filled with the gray smoke, they closed the door and ran, trying not to fall over on their way back from laughing so hard.

The three of them made a mad dash into their own compartment; they worked quickly to compose themselves. Ruby went back to leaning against the window, and put her homework back on her lap. Lily sat down, crossed her legs and started reading her book again, and Reed pulled Snowball out of her cage and leaned back against Ruby and placed the bunny on her stomach, petting her. Seconds later the boys had opened their compartment door, looking disheveled.

"What do you guys want?" Ruby asked sighing, putting her homework down.

"Did you guys just…" Sirius trailed off taking in their appearance; it didn't look like they had just run to their compartment and back again.

"I think the three of you owe us an apology," Remus said surprising everyone.

Reed put Snowball back in her cage and then stood up, so she was standing right in front of Remus. All of her pent up frustration at him was about to explode, "You think we owe you an apology?" she asked still rather calm, "Think again. You're the one who owes us an apology. I didn't do anything to you, and you yell at me for knowing something that I didn't even sneak around to know! I apologized to you for knowing that you were a werewolf, and you still yell at me, after I apologized! You are the biggest pig-headed, egocentric, toe ragged bastard I know! So there's your apology, you can go stick it up your ass!" Reed yelled.

James burst out laughing, along with Ruby and Sirius. Lily just stared open-mouthed at the red faced Reed. None of them had ever seen her raise her voice before, and now here she was shouting, not to mention cursing.

"I think you owe her an apology mate." James said, trying to control his laughter.

Remus fidgeted, his face was pink, "I…I'm sorry." He said briskly taking off down the hall to their compartment.

"Well, I think that went well, all things considered." Sirius smiled as he and James went back to their own compartment.

"They totally forgot that they were here to yell at us for stink bombing their compartment." Ruby said slowly.

Reed suddenly stood up from her spot on the seat, threw open the compartment door, and yelled down the hallway, "Apology accepted!" Reed closed the door slowly and sat back down next to Lily. She laid her head in her lap and fell asleep.

An hour must have gone by before Lily gently nudged Reed awake, "We're here sleepy."

"Already?" Reed asked sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Lily, Ruby, and Reed grabbed their luggage from the overhead racks. Reed grabbed snowball's cage from underneath the seat, and the three girls were ready to go. The three met the boys outside of the train station, waiting for their ride to their home.

"Who's picking us up anyways?" Lily asked looking at Reed.

"My cousin June." Reed said smiling.

"Is that her?" Ruby asked.

Standing by a dark blue car was a girl with long jet black hair and the brightest blue eyes the two girls had ever seen. She had on a black shirt, a red and black plaid miniskirt, knee high rainbow colored socks, and black combat boots.

"Yeah, that's Juney all right," James sighed, "Why did they send her." He whispered to himself.

"Hey there princess!" June smiled wrapping James in an arm and giving him a nuggie.

"Hi June!" Reed smiled.

"Hey there Reedy. How's school going?" June asked as she shoved luggage into the big van she had driven there.

"Good. These are my two friends. Lily Evans and Ruby Taylor."

"Ah. So you're Lily. Fruit loop over there talks about you all the time." June winked at Lily.

"June!" James yelled as he yanked open the car door.

"Oh." Was all Lily could muster for the time being.

"Okay get in kids!" The six teens piled into the van, and as soon as they were all buckled in, she took off, "Hey there wolf boy, didn't even see you there." June smiled.

"Hello June." Remus sighed sinking into his seat.

"So," June said, "How's Dumbledoo?"

"Professor Dumbledore is fine June." James mumbled.

Lily leaned in closer to Reed, "How old is she?" she whispered.

"24, Red." June said.

"Congrats Evans, you've been the proud recipient of a June nickname." James laughed.

"Shut up fairy." June said elbowing James in the side.

"How long are we going to be in this car with her?" Sirius asked narrowing his eyes.

"Two hours ba ba black sheep," June said winking at Sirius, "Aren't we going to have fun?"

"Would you stop calling me ba ba black sheep!" Sirius yelled angrily.

Ruby suddenly wasn't sure if being alone with this woman for a whole two hours in a confined space like the van was a good idea.

* * *

Well here's chapter four! Sorry the update was so long!! From now on it'll move a little faster I promise!!

Reviews are very much appreciated!


	5. First meetings

Hello there everybody! I hope you've been enjoying my story, Falling, so far! I'm happy that I finally have the fifth chapter out!

So anyways, I own Ruby Taylor, Reed Elliot, Francesca Corleon, June Potter, and any other made up characters, all the rest belongs to J.K. Rowling!

Chapter five

The six teens had only been in the Potter van for less then two hours before James was getting on Lily's last nerve. He had asked her out three times already, usually after he said something sexually inappropriate. Lily had finally threatened him with a nasty hex, and he hadn't asked her out once in the last half hour.

Reed had fallen asleep, her head was resting on the seat, pressing up against Remus's leg, which was clearly making him uncomfortable, but he was playing with her soft, curly hair anyways. Reed's legs were resting in Ruby's lap, who was writing in a journal and keeping an eye on Sirius, who was suspiciously not doing anything at all.

"We're here!" June yelled as the van came to a jeering halt, the six teens went forward in their seats, their seatbelts the only thing keeping them from going out of the front windshield.

"We finally stopped?" Ruby muttered sarcastically.

"Oh my Jesus!" Sirius yelled, "Land! Wonderful, precious, sweet land!"

The other members of the group had similar ideas as they ripped out of the van like bats out of hell. Lily was the first to step out, and she was the first to take in the surrounding environment.

They were standing in front of a two-floored house. It had huge picture windows in the front, and tons of irises planted under them. There was a small stone path leading up to the front door from the drive-way. The front door was adorned with hanging baskets filled with azaleas. Even the placemat on the front step was clean and spotless.

"Aren't you coming in Evans? I mean, you're welcome to sleep outside, but there is a bed that you can sleep in in the house."

Lily was snapped out of the daze she was in to see James standing right in front of her, waving his hand as if trying to get her attention. Lily nodded and followed James into the house. She was even more surprised when she saw the interior.

The house was filled with plush cream colored carpet. The walls were all soft browns or warm cream colors as well. The couch in the living room was large, probably able to fit more then six people at once. The coffee table was made out of expensive cherry wood, and all the end tables and desk in the living room matched.

Lily felt embarrassed being in the Potter's house now. It was so more… elegant then she had been expecting, it outclassed her suburban home by miles. It was all a little too much to know that James Potter was actually in a well off, sophisticated home. It made her excited to meet the rest of the Potters.

"Well, this is home I suppose," Reed yawned trudging up the plush carpeted stairs, Lily and Ruby were close behind.

Reed opened the third out of five doors on the left side of the upstairs hallway. It opened to reveal a powdered blue bedroom. The bed was a bunk bed, with matching comforters, sheets, and bed ruffles on each one. They were pure white with little pale blue embroidered flowers on them. There was a small desk pushed up against the wall next to a long body length window. The desk was simple light wood; a table lap and a quill holder were all that were on it. In general, the room was amazing, even the ceiling fan, which was white with little blue swirl designs hand painted on them, looked like it had been methodically picked out.

Lily took a look then at all the pictures hanging up. She was amazed to see that most of them had herself or Ruby in them. There was one with two people in it that Lily didn't recognize. It was of a man and a woman, they were holding a baby. The woman had long, curly blond hair. Her blue eyes seemed to be the brightest, clearest things in the picture. Her cheeks were pink, and from the way she was smiling it looked to be that they were pink from laughing so much. The man in the picture looked much the same, incredibly happy. He had darker hair, a light brown, and his eyes matched perfectly. He too had a wide smile on his face, and he was looking directly at the small, blond haired, blue eyed baby that the woman held.

"Those are my parents. They were a cute couple weren't they?" Reed smiled at the picture sadly.

"Yes," Lily agreed, because they were, "Beautiful."

"Well…" Reed trailed off, "You two can sleep in the bunk beds. I'll drag a spare mattress from one of the guest rooms in here."

"Don't bother, already got it," the girls turned around to see James, Sirius, and Remus, they were dragging a twin sized mattress into the bedroom, "Where do you want it?" James asked.

Reed shrugged, "Right in the middle is fine."

"Well," James said after he dropped the mattress in the spot Reed had specified, "It's late. You should all go to bed."

Ruby nodded slowly, but the boys didn't leave the bedroom, and soon the silence got awkward, "You guys can leave now, we have to get dressed into our pajamas." Ruby hissed.

"Yeah, that's kind of what we were waiting for." Sirius winked. Ruby grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at him, closing and then locking the door on their way out.

After the girls were dressed in their nightgowns, and under the covers, the time seemed to pass by slower then it normally did when they tried to sleep at school. Reed sighed; she was going to die if time went any slower. Almost after what seemed like the whole night, but was actually only about ten minutes, Ruby started to talk.

"Do you two remember the first time we ever talked to each other?"

Lily groaned, "How could I not. It was the first and last detention I will ever have in my life."

Reed laughed, "And it was my fault. How ironic."

Four years earlier, (first year students) 

"And please add the Gillyweed carefully… I don't want anyone growing gills." Professor Slughorn sighed.

Reed Elliot was a small and fragile girl. She had chin length blond curly hair and baby blue eyes; Reed Elliot however, was deadly clumsy. She even tripped over air on her way to meet her eleven year old partner, Severus Snape.

"You trip a lot." He said as she got over to the desk with their cauldron on it.

"Y-yes," the small girl said timidly, "I'm sorry. Here's the Gillyweed." Reed handed the weed over to Severus.

"Do you want me to get the goat urine?" Reed asked, feeling like she hadn't done anything of importance the whole class.

Severus nodded, not sure of what to say, he never was a conversationalist. Reed passed right by partners Sirius Black and Ruby Taylor. Sirius, she had to admit made her nervous. He came from a very powerful family, and truthfully they were all a little intimidating, especially Bellatrix Black, whom she'd seen in a sort of yearbook earlier that year. Then she passed by her cousin James, and his partner Lily Evans. Lily and James, along with Ruby and Sirius had all been sorted into her house, Gryffindor. Lily seemed like a nice girl, just so smart that it was intimidating.

Reed hung her head as she passed the last table on her way to the supply closet, Remus Lupin and his Slytherin partner, Francesca Corleon. Francesca was even scarier then Sirius. She had long glossy black hair and the darkest brown eyes. They seemed to match perfectly with her Olive toned Italian skin. Reed grabbed the vile from the supply closet and headed back to her partner, Severus. It was then that Reed's clumsy feet caught on the end of her robes and she went flying.

She bumped into Remus and Francesca's table, sending their cauldron flying to the floor. Remus backed up and bumped right into Sirius and Ruby's table. Ruby gasped and tried to move out of the way, but she knocked into the table more, and their cauldron went flying to the floor as well. In his attempt to avoid the spilt potion Sirius back away.

Sirius backed away right into James. Who, in turn, backed into Lily and the two of them fell to the floor. Lily grabbed the handle on the cauldron to try and brace herself on the way down, but she ended up dragging it with her. Severus, whom had started to walk to the supply closet himself to get something else, was hit by the rolling cauldron and fell back into the glass supply closet, sending glass everywhere.

"Elliot, Potter, Evans, Corleon, Snape, Black, Taylor, and Lupin! You'll all report to the detention room today after classes, for a minimum of three hours!" Slughorn roared, "In the mean time, the eight of you will clean up this mess!"

Detention…

"I can't believe I got detention on the first day of classes." Lily sighed banging her head against the wooden desk.

"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it, I swear." Reed said looking down, twisting the long sleeves of her robes nervously.

"It's alright Reedy; it's not your fault." James said patting her reassuringly on the back.

"That's right," Lily agreeing, "It's yours." Lily hissed at James.

"I didn't do anything!" James yelled back in defense.

"Right, you just made me break a glass supply case," Severus said siding with Lily.

"You're the one who broke it!" Sirius yelled at the small boy.

"Thank you!" James yelled back.

"You're welcome." Sirius smiled.

"Great, a pack of idiots," Ruby sighed, "and only the first day."

"Oh come off of your high horse, it was your fault you broke the door." Lily said.

"Oh shut up you filthy mudblood." Francesca snarled.

"Hey!" James yelled, "Don't call her that!"

"I can take care of myself thank you very much!" Lily roared.

"I-I really am sorry…" Reed said quietly wiping her tears on the end of her robes.

"It's not your fault," Eleven year-old Remus said giving her a comforting smile.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked.

"I'd rather be in the infirmary." Remus sighed.

"You are such a pig-headed toe-rag Potter!" Lily yelled.

"What? Yell at him, not at me!" James said pointing at Severus.

"Why don't you shut up, you're no better then her!" Severus yelled.

"Why don't you go wipe your big greasy nose on something!" Sirius yelled.

"Thank you!" James yelled again.

"You're most welcome!" Sirius grinned.

"Why don't you people shut up!" Ruby yelled, silencing everyone in the room, "Do any of you even notice that girl over there who's crying her eyes out because she thinks it's her fault you all are yelling at each other?"

Everyone turned their heads to look at Reed, except for Francesca who was too busy studying her cuticles to care. She was crying her eyes out, and Remus was doing the best he could to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry I tripped!" Reed blubbered.

"Reed," James said quietly, "It's not your fault."

"I'm so sorry!" Reed cried again.

"I wasn't yelling at you, I was yelling at him, I don't blame you." Lily said, trying to comfort the poor girl.

"Yeah, no one is blaming you." Sirius agreed.

"Which is ironic, since she's the one who tripped and started the chain of reactions in the first place." Francesca said, although no one seemed to hear her.

"We'll even help you clean the potions room how about that?" James asked.

"We were going to have to anyways you idiot." Lily seethed.

End flashback…

"I don't quite remember it the way you do, Reed." Lily mused, "I always thought James was the one who bumped into our table."

"No…" Reed laughed, "I tripped over my robes, knocked into Francesca and Remus's table and then it all went downhill from there."

"Ah!" Ruby laughed, "That was the best day of my life!"

"That was also the day Sirius and James became inseparable, we should have gotten them to hate each other instead of me and him," Lily sighed, "Life would have been so much easier."

Reed laughed, "But it would have been more boring."

"That's true." Ruby agreed.

It wasn't until the other two girls were asleep, when Lily had agreed, silently, that she was glad she had met the five of them.

So, I hoped you liked chapter five of falling! Please please please Review! Even a smiple, "I like it." Is a real nice thing to read! Chapter six should be up at the end of this week sometime!


	6. Of frozen ponds and Misletoe

Well.... hello there. Sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated... I feel like a bum. Classes have been a bit... uh chaotic? Haha, thats probably the best way to describe that. Anyways, that's really all I've got to say, thanks for reading, here's chaper 6!!

* * *

Chapter six

"Wake up schmoopy bears!" Came a high feminine voice called the next morning.

Ruby, Lily, and Reed were all sleeping on the mattress that was laying on the floor. They had all decided to sleep on the mattress after Reed had woken them up after she woke up screaming after a horrible nightmare.

"Go away!" Reed mumbled hiding her head under her pillow, and pulling the covers higher over her shoulders.

"Now is that anyway to talk to your aunty Allison?" Lily opened her eyes as fast as she could then. Reed's aunt Allison was obviously James' mother, and she had the insane urge to know what she looked like.

Standing over the bed was a slender woman. Her red hair was falling over her shoulders in cascading waves. Her bright blue eyes were shinning with the morning light that was coming through the blinds from the windows. Even the small, single freckle on her chin added to her beauty.

"You must be Lily!" Allison yelled excitedly, "Jamie talks about you all the time! And you must be Ruby! Siri-kins talks about you all the time as well!" Allison giggled.

"Allison!" Reed yelled, fully awake now.

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper Reed!" Allison said happily, "I pride myself in telling my boys' secrets!"

"Aunt Alice, please don't," Reed groaned, she knew what was coming next.

"Please, do tell." Lily smiled leaning up on her pillow with her elbows.

"Did you know that James wet his bed until her was eight? Remus came to our house for the school break when he was twelve with Sirius, and he got bit by one of the ducks that lives by the pond out back, and he's afraid of ducks now!" Allison seemed to be more then happy to spill any secrets that the girls asked for.

"Well, I never knew this. I feel like I know the three of them better now." Ruby laughed.

"Reed, dear you and your friends should join your father and I downstairs after you freshen up." Allison planted a soft kiss on Reed's head and left the room so the girl's could get changed.

"Father?" Lily asked after she pulled a cashmere sweater over her head.

"They're in the process of adopting me…" Reed said, her voice muffled by the soft blue turtle neck she was trying to pull over her head, "They decided I should have parents, no matter what. It's going to take a while to get used to calling them mom and dad though."

"I can imagine. At least you'll have an amazing family though." Ruby smiled warmly at Reed.

"Yeah, I will." Reed smiled thinking about it.

On their way down stairs to the kitchen, the girls passed James's bedroom door and stopped. They looked at each other. Lily grinned and Ruby giggled. Reed nodded and the three girls opened the door.

All three boys were lying on the floor. The room was dark, as its walls were painted a deep forest green color. The girls looked at each other; they could see the lumps on the floor covered by blankets.

"One." Lily whispered.

"Two." Ruby giggled.

"Three!" Reed yelled as the three girls jumped on the lumps.

"Wakey wakey Jamie!" Reed yelled, giggling.

"Time to get up sleepy head!" Ruby yelled at Sirius.

After the lumps didn't respond, the three girls got nervous. Reed threw the blanket off of them, to realize they had been yelling at pillows the whole time, "Where are they?" Reed asked, and then she screamed.

Remus had been hiding behind the door, and with a little bit of effort, he had thrown her over his shoulder. Sirius, whom had been hiding in the closet ran out and grabbed Ruby, and slung her over her shoulder just like Remus had done Reed. James was the last one, and running out from behind the bed, he slung Lily over his shoulder as well.

"James Potter! You let me down right now!" Lily yelled kicking and screaming.

"Sirius! You put me down right now! Down! Bad boy!" Ruby yelled.

"Remus! Let me down!" Reed yelled, giggling.

"Hi mum!" James said as the three boys walked through the living room with the girls still thrown over their shoulders.

"You have towels right!?" Allison yelled after them as they walked through the glass patio door.

"Towels?" Lily asked looking at the other two girls, "JAMES! Put me down right now! I swear to Merlin, I will hurt you so bad!"

"Sirius! Don't you dare throw me in that pond! It is about thirty degrees outside!" Ruby yelled.

"You don't want me to get Pneumonia, do you Remus?" Reed asked, giving the teenaged werewolf puppy-dog eyes. Remus thought about it for a second, and then he let her down.

"Remus! Don't be so whipped!" Sirius yelled.

"Sorry Reed," Remus sighed, and then he picked her up again.

"I hope I die!" Reed yelled as they got closer to the pond.

"One," James laughed.

"I'm going to kill you!" Lily yelled.

"Two." Sirius smiled.

"I hate you!" Ruby yelled.

"Three!" Remus yelled.

Reed started giggling uncontrollably at this point. All three boys jumped into the pond, the girls still secure on their shoulders. Lily surfaced first, and swam to the shore, when she pulled herself out, she looked like a drown kitten. Reed and Remus both surfaced together and laughing, they too made it to the shore and climbed out. James, Sirius, and Ruby all got out after them, soaked and freezing. James offered Lily one of the large fluffy towels he had brought out with him; she didn't look at it, but she took it anyways.

Ruby and Sirius both made it over to where they were sitting, Sirius was gawking at Ruby, whom had never changed out of her nightgown. Now it clung to her every curve. Ruby grabbed a towel and covered herself as fast as she could.

Ruby sat down on the frosty ground beside Lily, she narrowed her eyes at Sirius who was smiling sheepishly, "Brr. I'm freezing!" Ruby yelled angrily.

Sirius smiled, sat down and pulled Ruby into his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. Ruby blushed, her face turning as red as a tomato, but she decided she definitely wasn't cold anymore.

"Aw, get a room!" James laughed.

"Shut up! You'll ruin the moment!" Reed yelled laughing.

"What moment!" Lily yelled, "I'm freezing and I look like a wet dog! And my boobs are showing!" Lily yelled.

James tried to look around Lily's shoulders, but she pulled the towel tighter around her thin sweater. The teens all turned around when they heard the patio door opened. Mr. Potter was standing on the patio. He had neat salt and peppered hair, and blue eyes. He had wrinkles around his mouth from smiling so much. He, was an older version of James, it was almost scary.

"Do you kids want any hot chocolate?" Mr. Potter was met with enthusastic nods as the teens all rushed towards the back door.

All of the kids had been worn out to their wits ends. They were sitting in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate, trying to get warm. Reed and James had gotten out old picture albums, and were telling stories about all the pictures they could remember.

"I remember this!" Reed laughed as she passed a picture of her and James to Lily. The two teens had been eight when the picture was taken, they were at Diagon alley, and James had a horribly mad look on his face, while Reed looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I remember too." James said scowling, "that was when that damn owl pooped right on my shoulder!"

Lily laughed; she could see the white spot on his dark blue sweater. Once she knew what it was, it made the picture all the more hilarious. She passed it back to James who looked like he was going to die from embarrassment.

"Girls, do you want to go hang mistletoe up in the doorways for me?" Mrs. Potter asked handing the girls a few sprigs each.

"Sure!" Reed laughed grabbing Ruby's and Lily's hands.

When Lily and Ruby met Reed back downstairs where she was hanging a sprig of mistletoe in the kitchen doorway, Lily sighed, "Do you realize we have a sprig of mistletoe in every single doorway in this house?"

"Yes I do!" Reed laughed, "But I'm going to catch someone under the mistletoe with a camera, if it's the last thing I do!"

"You're such a silly romantic." Ruby sighed.

"Of course. And right now, its operation Ruby and Sirius should be together forever!" Reed giggled.

"I think you drank the wrong egg nogg." Lily laughed.

"Girls!" Mrs. Potter yelled, "It's time for dinner!"

"Coming!" Reed yelled.

"You know, I think it's time we finally get the boys back." Lily said sighing.

"They've pranked us three times already today, and we haven't gotten them once." Ruby groaned, thinking about how many days there were left for the boys to prank them.

"We'll get them, tonight. I promise." Reed winked as they walked into the kitchen.

The dinner went well, and James and Lily didn't argue once the whole time. Mr. Potter, Lily had learned was an Auror, and June had decided to follow in his footsteps. Mrs. Potter owned a bookshop in Diagon Alley.

"Okay, each of you is going to open the presents Nathan and I got you!" Mrs. Potter giggled referring to her husband.

Each child, except for June, whom had gotten her present earlier, was given a light blue box. It wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light either.

"Okay! Open!" Allison said excitedly.

The kids tore at their presents. When they were all unwrapped, they had realized they'd gotten basically the same present. They were all holding photo albums in their hands; each one had a different color. Ruby's was red, Sirius's was white, James's was green, Reed's was purple, Remus's was silver, and Lily's was a goldish color. Each album even had their names engraved in elegant scrawl on the front cover.

Each album had pictures in it from different times in the teen's friendships. Reed squealed when she looked at one of the pictures in her album, "Remember this?" Reed asked, "It was Halloween! We had decided to dress as each other! I was dressed like James, James was dressed like Remus, Remus was dressed like Sirius, Sirius was dressed like Ruby, Ruby was dressed like Lily, and Lily was dressed like me!" Reed said in one really big breath.

"Oh! Look at this one!" Lily laughed, "It was Christmas, last year. We had all decided to stay at school for some awful reason; we were one of the only ones there! I remember Molly was practicing her knitting skills and she gave us each a sweater!"

"I remember!" Sirius laughed, "We wore them on Christmas day so Molly wouldn't get mad at us."

"I can't believe I actually wore that damn thing." James muttered, he still had it hanging up in his closet upstairs.

"I still wear mine…" Remus laughed.

"I remember Dumbledore sung us muggle Christmas carols; I think he felt bad for us!" Ruby laughed.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Potter." Lily smiled.

"Oh please, it was nothing." Allison waved it off, "Now, you should be off to bed, it's late and tomorrow is Christmas day. You don't want to be tired!"

The six teens nodded, grabbed their photo albums and ran up the stairs; Ruby even gave Sirius a little kiss on the cheek. James had said goodnight to Lily, but they stayed in the hallway, waiting for Reed and Remus to say goodnight to each other.

"Are you okay Remus? You look sick." Reed said, sounding nervous.

"No, I'm uh, okay." Remus said looking down awkwardly.

"Look padfoot, mistletoe." James smiled.

"Ah, you're right Prongs, and look who's under it." Sirius pointed at the sprig of mistletoe hanging above the top of the stairs.

"You don't have to embarrass her James. She doesn't want to kiss me so leave her." Remus never got to finish his sentence because Reed had placed her soft lips on the side of his face.

Remus almost fainted. This he decided was way better then not kissing her. When Remus turned his head to look at her better, Reed smiled, and slowly placed her lips, which had previously been on his cheek, on his lips. In a moment of poor judgment, Remus wrapped his arms around her waist; she wrapped hers around his neck.

They were interrupted by a loud feminine yell, "Mum! You need to give your newest daughter the sex talk!" June yelled as she stood on the steps in front of the two kissing teenagers.

Remus pulled away as quickly as he could, only to smack his head against the wall behind him. Reed opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but she closed her lips quickly and ran into her bedroom, Lily and Ruby following her close behind.

* * *

Ah, young love, how confusing XD

Reviews are very much appreciated, and since I'm less busy now, the updates will be sooner yay :D


	7. Worn and Torn

Dear Whisperheart,

See, I told you I'd update soon :3

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is sadly not mine, and never will be... oh the despair :(

* * *

Chapter seven: Worn and Torn

"That was pretty intense for a mistletoe kiss," Ruby laughed sarcastically.

"Stop making fun of me! I forgot you guys were standing there! Oh my god!" Reed yelled, "He's going to think I'm some fawning little whore!"

Lily raised her eyebrows, "I rather doubt that's how he's going to take it Reed."

Reed sighed sitting on a chair next to the window that looked out into the backyard. The forest that lay beyond the perfectly manicured lawn was large, and seemed even darker then usual that night. Reed was about to go sit on the bed until she saw three figures retreating into the mass of trees.

"Where are they going?" Reed asked moving aside so Lily and Ruby could look out of the window.

"I have no idea." Lily said, her voice trailing off.

"This is the time." Ruby said suddenly.

"The time to do what?" Reed asked confused.

"To get them back!" Ruby yelled, "We said we were going to get them back, and now is the perfect time!"

Lily and Reed nodded, they slipped their jackets on over their night gowns, and pulled on tennis shoes so they could move easier through the forest. They had gotten to the edge of the yard standing just in front of large forest before they heard James shout, "Shit!"

"Let's go." Ruby said as she and the other two girls ran into the forest right behind her.

They ran like they were being chased by wild dogs toward James's cursing. After they had gotten a considerable amount of yards into the forest they stopped to listen again. This time their ears were met by silence, and then out of nowhere, a dog howled. They could hear the brush around them rustle, and the wind was whistling through the tress, making it hard for them to decide where the sounds were coming from. Then, as loud as it had been a second ago, it went silent.

"I have a feeling that they're going to prank us again, instead of the other way around." Ruby said filling the silence with her clear feminine voice.

"I-I can't see a damn thing in here." Lily said trying to feel around for the others shoulders.

Reed shivered in fear. Something was wrong. James, Sirius, and Remus liked to prank them, but they would never take it as far too potentially get them lost in the forest, they weren't that mean. Reed spun around when she heard a stick snap. She walked closer to where she thought she heard it, thinking that if James, Sirius, or Remus was going to scare her, they might as well get it over with.

Reed paused shortly, and in a feeble, shaky voice she called out to her friends, "Lily? Ruby? Where are you guys?" When they didn't answer, she knew they had been separated.

Reed started to walk further in the direction she was certain was the way that would lead her back out into the yard, but she ended up walking deeper into the forest, unbeknown to her. When she heard another stick snap, she yelped in fear. Reed hurriedly felt around for a tree, and once she found it she sat down at the base, listening to the twigs snap. She pulled her legs up closer to her when low growls joined the snapping twigs. Then, for a third time, everything went silent. Positive that whatever had been near had gone in the opposite direction, Reed stood up and walked out from behind the tall tree.

Standing there, waiting for her, was the largest dog she had ever seen. It looked more wolf then anything, and in a second she would know why. Because it was a wolf. A werewolf to be precise. Reed opened her mouth to scream, but terror had frozen her vocal cords. Only when the werewolf charged, snapping it's large snout did she scream and run.

"Help!" Reed yelled running through the forest, "James! Sirius! Someone help me!" Reed was going to continue to yell, her throat turning raw in the cold air, but she was pushed to the ground by the werewolf that had been chasing her. She felt a searing pain in her arm, and the scratches she could feel forming on her face didn't feel any better.

Reed turned around so she was facing up, trying to get off of her lame arm. Groaning in pain, the werewolf stalked closer to her. It lowered its muzzle so close to her own face that the saliva that was foaming around its mouth was dripping onto her cheek. Reed closed her eyes, her heart was quickening at an alarming pace. She would be dead in a matter of seconds. The pain that she was expecting came, double fold. Reed let out one last scream before she blacked out.

"Is she going to be okay?" Reed closed her eyes tighter; she was tired she wanted to sleep.

"She'll be fine. Just some cuts and bruises," That was her aunt Allison.

"She kind of looks like Frankenstein right now," That was defiantly June.

"June! Stop being so insensitive!" James yelled loudly.

"Be quiet!" Reed had meant to yell, but it came out as a cracked whisper.

"Reed, honey? Are you okay? Are you all right?" Allison yelled. Reed opened her eyes. Her aunt, soon to be mother, was leaning over the couch, her red hair falling over her shoulders, and unto Reeds face.

"I think I'd be a lot better if you all would be a little quieter." Reed mumbled trying to bring her arm up to shield her eyes from the light the living room lamp was producing.

Mr. Potter, pointed his wand at it, and in seconds the light was reduced to a low glimmer. Reed slowly put her arm down, it was obvious she wasn't going to get it anywhere near her eyes anyways, seeing as how much it hurt.

"Where are Lily and Ruby?" Reed asked.

"We're right here." Lily's voice called from the side of the couch where Reed's head was laying. Lily and Ruby walked around, and kneeled by the couch, like Allison had just done, "How do you feel?"

"How do I feel?" Reed asked incredulously, "How do you two feel. You guys look horrible!"

"You should see the other guy." Ruby smiled, trying to make a joke.

"Have you looked in a mirror?" Reed asked, "You look like a raccoon." She was referring to the fact that Ruby had not one, but two black eyes. Her face was scratched up, and there was a bruise that stretched the length of her ear down to the middle of her neck. Her fingernails were chipped, and her arms were scratched, not to mention that it looked like she wasn't wearing much of a nightgown anymore since it was ripped and torn.

Lily didn't look much better. Her face was bruised in four different spots, and not to be outdone by Ruby, she too had a black eye. Just one, though. Lily's hair was a mess, twigs and leaves were sticking out from every red tress. Reed looked down to survey her nightgown as she had done Ruby's. She noticed that unlike Ruby, her fingernails were not only chipped, but she was missing two of them all together. Her legs were bruised in more spots then Reed could count, and her ankle seemed to be swollen.

Only once she realized the amount of damage she had sustained, did the pain come flooding back to her. She groaned out as the sting of cuts and bruises washed over her entire body. And now that she thought about it, she was hot. Really really hot. Turning her head over to the side, she took the end of one of the couch pillows in her mouth and bit down hard, trying not to let the others know just how much pain she was in.

Lily and Ruby looked down at her sympathetically, obviously she didn't hide her pain to well. She'd just have to try harder. Ignoring the throbbing feeling in her ankle, chest, and arm, she smiled sheepishly up at them, Ruby just sighed, "Do you remember what happened at all?" Ruby asked.

"I… Oh my God!" Reed yelled, "I'm not a werewolf am I!?" She still couldn't yell, but it came out louder then the other shout had. Reed heard a pain filled yelp from behind her, and then the shuffling of feet. She watched as James and Sirius ran out of the room as fast as they could.

Reed swallowed hard, she had the sinking suspicion that she knew who had just yelped, and now she felt like a complete and utter arse. Her eyes began to water, "I'm a horrible p-person!" she wailed, still not able to cry as loud as she had once been able too.

"It's not your fault Reedy, we should have told you he was standing there." June smiled apologetically, and for once she had said a nice thing and meant it.

"We'll sleep down here in the living room with you tonight Reed." Lily said, Ruby nodded her head in agreement. The spacious couch pulled out into a king-sized bed, so the three of them would have no problem sharing it.

"I already cleaned you up, so you don't have to run a washcloth over anything." Nate, Mr. Potter, said.

"Thanks daddy," Reed smiled, it was about time she started calling them that.

"I fixed your broken arm, and your ankle was fractured in a couple places, so it was a little harder to fix, but you're all good there too. It'll hurt for a week or so though." Allison smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay. I'm fine."

"Okay, your father and I are going to go on up to bed then. You girls get some sleep okay? And Lily, you should get those leaves out of your hair before you go to bed."

"Yes ma'am." Lily smiled.

"Good night girls," Allison smiled.

"Goodnight mom." Reed called after her.

Ruby helped Reed move off the couch, and she and Lily opened it up to the bed. After Lily had gotten the twigs and leaves out of her hair, and brushed it thoroughly, the three girls lay back down on the pulled out couch, Reed in the middle.

"Are you guys okay?" Reed asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, we're fine. A little bruised and battered, but fine." Lily said.

"And flushed." Ruby laughed.

"Flushed?" Reed asked, "Why?"

"Well you see, the three of us got split up when we were ironically going in separate directions trying to find each other, Remus came after me first."

"Please," Lily said interrupting her, "Don't say it like that, he already wants to kill himself."

"What?!" Reed squeaked.

"Figure of speech." Lily muttered.

"So anyways," Ruby continued, "Remus saw me first, I ran over rocks, hit a tree, but I was fine because Sirius came out of nowhere and saved me," Ruby took a breath, "Then Remus set his eyes on Lily."

"It sounds worse when you say it like that too." Lily moaned.

"Sorry, sorry," Ruby apologized, "So then Lily was in danger, but out of no where this huge stag comes flying out of the trees, fights off Remus, and saves Lily. Lily's ankle is broken, so she can't really walk back because I'm in no position to help her. So guess what happens?" Ruby asked, unable to suppress her entertainment in the whole thing she started to giggle.

"Oh, Ruby please no." Lily pleaded.

"What happened?" Reed croaked.

"She had to ride James!" Ruby cried excitedly.

"She had to what?" Reed asked confused.

"She had to get on James's furry back and ride him back to the house. It was amazing!" Ruby laughed, "The funniest thing I had ever seen in my life!"

Reed couldn't help it, she had the mental image of Lily on a very human James's back, and it was, she had to admit, the funniest thing in the world. Then she thought about why Lily had had to ride James back to the house. Reed swallowed hard before she opened her mouth.

"How was he…you know, when we… got back?"

Neither Lily, nor Ruby said anything. They were trying to think of the words to describe how he had acted towards everyone when James and Sirius had finally gotten him back to the house. It hadn't been pretty that was for sure. Neither of the girls would tell Reed this, but he had wanted to spend the night in the forest he had felt so bad. When he had stepped foot in the house, he had started bawling. Then, when he saw Lily and Ruby he had blanched and apologized as much as they would let him, even though it was obvious he would have apologized for hours on end if they had let him. When he had seen Reed was when he hit rock bottom. He went white as a sheet, his eyes became as big as saucers, and it was obvious he was appalled with himself. Of course, those were only the words they could use to describe it; the emotions floating through the living room were much, much worse.

"He was upset." Ruby finally said, deciding that it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth.

"Now he must really hate me…" Reed said bringing the blanket up, covering her nose.

"Reed, he attacked you, how would he justify hating you?" Ruby asked scoffing.

"I shouldn't have gone out there. It was none of my business to snoop into whatever it was they were doing." She sniffled.

"Reed, really. I forgot that it was the full moon. Me! I forgot, so if it's anyone's fault it should be mine," Lily groaned.

"Don't forget, I was the one who pushed getting them back in the first place." Ruby said.

"Oh yeah, we really got them." Lily said sarcastically, when she heard Reed sniffle again, trying to hold back her tears, she sighed, "We are all equally blamable." Lily said, comforting Reed.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "So don't blame yourself."

"…" Reed just shoved her face down into the pillow, staying silent.

"Now go to bed! All of you. It's three in the morning and I want to get some kind of sleep." Lily muttered groggily.

Reed nodded, and Ruby grunted a reply. Lying there, Reed tried to think about what had happened. It was three in the morning. It wasn't even eleven thirty when the three girls had gone out into the forest, and they couldn't have been out there for more then half an hour. This meant she had been out for about three hours. Which meant Remus had had three hours to blame himself. To hate himself. Reed hugged one of the extra pillows to her chest, and cried silently. Lily and Ruby slept soundly on either side of her the whole time.

* * *

Seriously, I love you guys for favouring this little story and for adding it to your alert list, but I would love you a looooot lot more if you'd review too? Just let me know how I'm doing, or what you liked or disliked about the chapter, seriously I'm up for suggestions

:)


	8. And when it couldn't get any worse

Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, nor any of the scenes depicted in her novels or the movies. I do however own Reed, Ruby, and Francesca.

So... Um. I can't even remember the last time I updated... but I have a really good reason I didn't! Hah.

So... a friend of mine was sitting on my bed, and then he fell off of it and fell onto my laptop...which promptly broke it. And then my desktop got a virus because it hate me... :

* * *

Remus stood over Reed's bed, watching her breathe in and out soundly. The scrapes and cuts on her face stood out among what was normally perfect peachy skin. They would have to come up with a cover story of what had happened to her. Two days had passed since he had attacked her, and he hadn't talked to her once. He was mostly shut up in James's room all day, and everyone let him be there. Remus sighed, and walked over to the door to leave before she woke up. While he was twisting the doorknob, she leaned up in her bed.

"Remus? What time is it? What are you doing in my bedroom?" Reed asked rubbing her eyes.

"It's only 7:00; I was grabbing something for Ruby. Go back to sleep." Remus smiled weakly, and then he grimaced noticing the long scar on her arm that would be there for the rest of her life.

"Remus? What's wrong?" Reed asked slipping out of her bed.

"Reed, we've had this discussion before, the day after I hurt you."

"Oh, you mean the one about me not being your friend anymore because you're dangerous?" Reed narrowed her eyes, "You didn't tell Lily and Ruby to stay away from you even though you hurt them too."

"I don't think you understand how serious I am Reed. I will hurt you again. Just because I know you, doesn't mean that I won't rip off your face next time."

"But you didn't rip off my face did you?" Reed asked, "And it won't happen next time, because I'll stay inside where I should have stayed the first time."

"Stop." Remus said quietly.

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything."

"Stop being my friend, because you aren't. The only reason I even see you is because you're James's cousin. We're nothing more then acquaintances Reed, so stop trying to be my friend, because I don't want you to."

"Get out."

Remus was a little taken aback, he had expected Reed to start crying, which would have been horrible to see, but hearing her actually telling him to leave hurt more then he had thought it would, even though this was what he wanted in the first place.

"GET OUT!" Reed yelled, and with her good arm, she picked up the small table side lamp and threw it at him. It ended up grazing the side of his face, and as a small cut formed, with a small amount of blood dripping down, he scurried out of her room and into the hallway.

Reed walked over to her bed, and looked at the cast on her arm. Her bone could have been fixed by her soon to be father, but instead, at her request, a cast was put on it. Reed had always found the tradition of friends signing a cast an odd, yet amusing one, so after much arguing on her soon to be parents part, the cast had been put on her broken arm.

Now looking at it, she was enraged. She rummaged through her nightstand drawer, and once she had found the permanent marker, she furiously scribbled out Remus's message. She looked at if for a few moments. Proud that she had stopped her pacifist attitude and had been able to do something purely out of rage for once. A few minutes after looking at it, her face fell. Suddenly she realized why she didn't do anything out of rage, because she would come to regret it later. This was what she was doing now. It only took a few more second for Reed's eyes to well up with tears. She threw her face down in her pillow and started to loudly weep. James, June, Ruby, and Lily were all in her room in a matter of seconds. They stood there; looking at her for a minute before June hesitantly addressed her.

"Love, did you throw a lamp at Remus?" June asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Tattle tale!" Reed yelled as loud as she could, hoping he could hear her.

"No, honey, he was sitting on the sofa looking at it, and his forehead was bleeding."

"He deserved it anyways." Reed mumbled into the pillow.

"Why are you crying?" Sirius asked as he walked into the room, he had previously been in the living room trying to get Remus to spill what had happened.

"Because Remus is being a complete tosser! I got so mad at him, so I threw the lamp at him! Then when he left, I was still mad, so I squiggled out his message on my cast, and now it looks horrible!" Reed wailed.

"Oh, Reed. Remus only wants you to be safe," Lily said kneeling beside her bed, rubbing her back.

"Did you forget we could do magic or something?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, June can fix it right up. Right June?" Ruby asked.

"Tergeo," June said pointing her wand at the angry looking black scribbles. The black ink vanished, leaving the original message of get well soon, visible, "There all better. Now, you five are going to talk about whatever happened, and then come down to the breakfast table, where you won't talk about it anymore, got that?"

The five teens all shook their heads yes, and once June had closed the door behind her, everyone was asking the same thing at once, "What happened?"

"I just got mad." Reed said pouting, she never just got mad.

"Well," James said, "Will some buttermilk pancakes make it better?"

Reed stepped off of her bed, "Maybe," she said following the rest of them downstairs.

When they were all seated, Mrs. Potter piled a generous heap of pancakes on each of their plates, and like Mr. Potter had done shortly before, she had used the floo network to go off to work.

An awkward silence engulfed everyone sitting down. They ate silently. Lily just sat there and pushed her pancakes around. After minutes of this, Sirius placed his fork down on the table rather harshly and looked straight at Ruby.

"You know what I've learned this weekend?" Sirius asked, and even though he was looking at Ruby, James answered his question.

"What's that Padfoot? Not to throw pity parties for yourself?" James asked looking straight at Remus.

"No, Prongs, but that's a good thing to learn. Actually I've learned that life is too short."

"Too short?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow, "Life is the longest thing you ever do in the world in case you didn't know."

"I'll ignore that." Sirius said, "No, what I've learned is that life is too short not to have fun, and not to do what you want to, so you know what?" Sirius asked still looking at Ruby.

"What?" Reed asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'm asking you out." Sirius said, his eyes still fixed on Ruby.

Ruby inhaled her food on accident out of shock. After she had swallowed it, and then drank a good amount of milk she stared at him, "You what?"

"I said that I was going to ask you out. Which is something I've wanted to do for a long time actually, I just haven't mustered up the balls to do it."

"Well," Ruby said sarcastically, "Sirius Black couldn't muster up balls, that's a surprise."

"You think I'm kidding. I am most certainly not." Sirius said the whole time his eyes were fixed on her face.

"Can we do this later, like when we're not all sitting at a table together?" Ruby asked, her voice was getting short and menacing.

"Nope. If I don't ask now, I won't ask you out again."

"Ever?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes.

"Ever." Sirius confirmed, "So what is it then Ruby Taylor, go out with me…please?" He asked, hoping the please would help.

Ruby rubbed her temples, "You are the biggest stress factor in my life, and you are going to put me into an early grave."

"Is that a yes?" Sirius asked smiling.

Ruby sighed, "Yes, fine."

"Well," James said looking at Lily, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I-"

"No." Lily said cutting him off and shoving a big bite of pancake in her mouth.

Back at Hogwarts…

"I think I may have failed my Potions O.W.L." Sirius muttered to himself as he, Ruby, Lily, James, Reed, and Remus walked down the hallway.

"I tutored you for a month on that thing!" Ruby yelled, "If you fail, so help you Merlin!"

"Hey Lily, we have to leave now. Quidditch game." Reed said pointing to the Quidditch locker rooms they were about to pass.

Remus mumbled something that only James could hear, James sighed, but he passed the message on anyways, "Remus wonders if you should be playing Quidditch with your arm."

"My arm is perfectly fine thank you, and I'm only a chaser. It's not like I'm going around beating balls."

"Reed said that she was perfectly fine thank you," Sirius said looking at Remus.

"Right, well we'll be cheering for the three of you in the stands then." Lily said grabbing Sirius's and Remus's arms, and pulling them towards the side door that led out to the Quidditch pitch.

"So, we face Slytherin today, do we ladies?" James asked as he and his team were standing behind the wooden doors, waiting for them to rise."

"Yes we do," Reed said mounting her broom.

"Don't let anything get in those goals Jones." James said glaring at the Gryffindor Keeper, Hank.

"You should be worrying about not getting knocked off of your broom like last time," Hank laughed.

"Don't worry, we've got him." Ruby said referring to her, and the other beater Mae Kyle.

"Okay then, are we all ready?" James asked mounting his broomstick.

There was an audible cheer as the Gryffindor team were pumping themselves up for the big match, and as the wood gates rose, they zoomed out into the open pitch on their broomsticks.

The Quidditch director, and flying instructor, Madam Hooch, explained all the rules as she did in the beginning of every match. Reed tuned her out like she did every match, and instead sized up the Slytherin team. She knew all of them by heart, but she liked to see who looked shakier then normal, or who looked like they were going to be a problem. Like always, the one problem she saw was Francesca Corleone. One of the Slytherin Beaters. Francesca looked up from the ground and smiled at Reed, waving slightly.

Reed narrowed her eyes; she hated that girl so much. The balls were released and soon everyone was zipping around. Reed took off and immediately grabbed one of the Quaffles that had been thrown into the air. Zipping around some of the newer and therefore slower Slytherin Quidditch members, she threw the Quaffle into the highest ring when the keeper wasn't looking.

Reed looked around then for Ruby. She and Francesca were neck in neck, pushing each other, trying to get the other to fall off of their broom. Reed smiled, Ruby was already in a bad mood, and maybe Francesca would get what was coming to her for once. Once she was done watching Ruby, Reed took off again for another Quaffle.

James was zooming around the stadium at that time, trying to catch a glimpse of the small golden ball that was the Snitch. It was only ten minutes into the game, but he knew time was critical right now, especially since it looked like the Corleone girl was out for blood. Seeing a flash of gold to his right, James took off in that direction.

On the other side of the stadium, Reed had just grabbed ahold of another Quaffle, after one of their beaters; Mae Kyle shook off the other Chasers on Reed's tail. Reed smiled, they were already up by 45 points, and knowing James, he had found the Snitch by now and it was just a matter of catching it.

Reed took her time weaving in and out of the Slytherin players, getting kicked and bumped into, but nothing she couldn't handle. When at last she had made it to the other side of the stadium, and the Slytherin Keeper wasn't paying attention, yet again, Reed went in for another 15 points. She threw the Quaffle, and watched with giddy anticipation as it soared through one of the rings, and then she yelped as she wondered why she was falling through the sky.

She didn't know what was happening. She hadn't seen anyone even close to her when she had thrown the Quaffle. But now, as she was still soaring down to the hard ground, she wouldn't have been surprised if Francesca had beaten a bludger towards her just for the hell of it. Reed curled up, getting ready for impact. She didn't have her wand on her, so there was nothing she could do, unless someone decided to be nice and help her out.

After a few more seconds Reed relaxed a little bit. The falling feeling had stopped, and she would have hit the ground by now. Reed opened one eye and saw that she was just about a foot from the ground. Someone had decided to be nice. Smiling, and uncurling from her ball, she set a foot on the ground, and then the other. She was safe.

Then looking up as she heard the mass amount of cheers from the Gryffindor stands, she saw James hovering nicely with a small round golden object in his hands. The snitch. It was only fair to win, since they had lost their last two games against Slytherin.

"We won Reed!" Ruby yelled excitedly as she flew back down to the ground where Reed was standing.

"I know!" Reed yelled giddily, matching Ruby's enthusiasm.

"God, I thought you were a goner!" Ruby laughed, "Then Severus, who would have thought it, got all heroic on us, and pointed his wand at you, we all thought he was going to kill you, but instead you started to float down to the ground slowly. I almost got hit by a bludger from watching you though!" Ruby laughed.

"Severus saved me?" Reed asked, that was surprising. She wondered how mad Francesca was going to be with her now.

"Well, I'm going to grab the locker room before the guys do, here comes lover boy!" Ruby waved as she took her broom and ran off towards the locker room with most of the team.

Reed turned around and saw Severus standing there awkwardly, "Thank you." She said, "So much for helping me. I think I would have probably snapped my neck!" She laughed.

He twitched a little, and then he slowly held out a small, round glass jar. When Reed took it and opened it, there was a lavenderish smelling white cream in it. She looked up at him quizzically.

He frowned a little, and then pointed at her arm. Reed looked down; she could see the long angry looking scar on her arm that she had gotten two months ago when she, Lily, and Ruby had ventured into the forest behind her house on the full moon.

"Oh!" Reed smiled, "It's for the scar! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me," Severus said, "Dumbledore asked me to make it." He frowned.

"Hey James," Hank Jones said as they stood over ten yards away from Reed and Severus near the Gryffindor tunnel, "Is your cousin talking to Severus Snape?"

James looked up to see Severus and Reed talking, Reed seemed to be enjoying herself, Severus looked nervous. It annoyed him to see her talking with him, like she actually enjoyed it, "Sirius and Remus are about two feet behind them, he'll take care of it for now."

"That game was awesome!" Reed laughed, she had just changed out of her Quidditch robes, and now the three of them, her, Ruby, and Lily, were walking down to the lake to meet Sirius, James, and Remus for lunch.

"Well, it's so glad to hear that you think falling out of the sky is fun," Lily muttered, "I honestly don't get the appeal of that game."

"It's an acquired taste. And boy, have I acquired it." Ruby laughed as the three of them started to walk out from behind one of the large stone walls that seemed to randomly litter the school grounds.

They stopped when they heard voices, "You wait." Severus never got to finish his sentence.

"For what Snivellus, for you to wipe you nose on us?" Sirius laughed.

Lily, Reed, and Ruby heard Severus mutter random curse words and hexes, but nothing happened, so he must have dropped his wand.

"Wash your mouth out!" James yelled, "Scourgify!"

The three girls had heard enough, they stepped out from around the stone wall to see what was going on. The three of them gasped when they saw the pink bubbles spouting out from Severus's mouth. He seemed to be choking on them as well.

"James stop! You'll kill him!" Reed yelled pulling on his arm.

"What has he ever done to you?" Lily yelled.

"Well it's more of the fact that he exists if you know what I mean." James said nonchalantly.

"That's low," Ruby said narrowing her eyes, "Even for you." Ruby didn't exactly like Severus either, but she was worried he'd get hurt, and then they would get in trouble.

"You think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant bullying toe rag Potter! Leave him alone!" Lily yelled again.

"I will if you go out with me Evans. Go on, go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivlly again."

"James! He's choking!" Reed yelled again.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!" Lily yelled.

"Bad luck Prongs," Sirius said, and as he turned around, he saw Snape grab his wand, "Oi!"

Snape aimed his wand straight at James. There was a flash of light. A gash appeared on the side of James's face, splattering his robes with blood.

"Oh bloody hell, now it's going to turn into a damned war." Ruby muttered, grabbing her wand just in case.

"James no!" Reed yelled grabbing ahold of his arm, but he was in such a fury that he pushed her to the ground.

Reed landed on her back with a loud, "Oomph!" She rubbed her back as Remus, who had been reading and ignoring the whole thing put his book down and looked at her worriedly, "Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"I'm fine. Why don't you get back to your book, wouldn't want to miss anything." Reed snarled.

James whirled about, and a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air. His robes falling over his head to reveal skinny pale legs, and a pair of green underpants.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius had binded him.

"Sirius stop!" Ruby yelled.

"Let him down!" Lily yelled, echoing Ruby's frantic tone.

"Certainly." James said as he fell to the ground.

"Severus!" Reed yelled rushing to his side.

"Reedy!" James yelled, "He's the enemy!"

"Shut up James!" Reed yelled, James stepped forward towards the two.

"Leave him alone!" Lily yelled drawing her wand.

"Evans, don't make me hex you," James said in a joking voice.

"Don't you dare!" Ruby yelled, both she and Reed had drawn their wands by then.

"Take the curse off of him." Lily yelled.

James sighed and muttered the counter curse, "There you go, you're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus." James said.

"I don't need help from a filthy little mud-blood like her."

"Severus! Stop it!" Reed yelled at him.

"Fine I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you Snivellus." Lily retorted.

"Lily stop!" Ruby moaned, "Don't sink down to their level, please."

"Apologize to Evans!" James roared.

"James, stop it already!" Reed yelled, her eyes started to water in frustration.

"I don't want you to make him apologize. You're just as bad as he is." Lily said.

"Could we please just act our age!" Ruby yelled tired of all the yelling.

"What!" James yelled, "I'd never call you a you know what!"

"Messing your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just gotten off of your broomstick. Showing off with that stupid snitch. Walking down the corridors hexing anyone who annoys you because you can. I'm surprised your broomstick can get off of the ground with that big head of yours. You make me sick!" Lily stormed off by herself.

"What's wrong with her?" James asked running a hand through his hair.

"Read between the lines. I think she thinks you're a bit conceited mate." Sirius laughed.

"Right." Another flash of light and Snape was upside down again, "Who wants to see Snivlly's underpants?" James yelled.

"James!" Reed yelled, "Stop it now you vile pig-headed conceited toe-ragged bastard!"

Ruby glared at Sirius, "You too." She hissed.

"Fine. I was only having a bit of fun." James said.

"That does not mean you get to toy with other people! And you!" Reed yelled pointing at Remus, "You just sat here and read a book the whole time they tortured him! You… you disgust me! You are worse then any werewolf in existence!" Reed's face was red with anger as she shouted at him, "And where the hell is Peter!" She vented. (Where is Peter?) Reed stomped off, Ruby close behind her.

Reed stopped suddenly a few feet from James, Sirius, and Remus. She whipped her wand out, and before James could react she had shouted, "Engorgio! Let me know what a swelled head matches you swelled ego James!"

And just for good measure Ruby also threw a spell at the three boys, "Aguamenti!" She yelled as soon all three boys were doused in water, the two girls left then, leaving the boys standing there looking like soaked puppies.

"Well this is just great!" James yelled.

* * *

So, I've had a couple reviews about how Severus is acting to nice to Reed and sometimes Ruby, but I have an explanation for this. Actually I have two! One, anything he can do to piss off James and Sirius he would, even if it meant being a little nice to someone else, and two, He's got the mind set that if he's nice to Lily's friends, Lily will see how er… great of a guy he is…?

Haha, so yeah… that's my reasoning behind his weird behavior.

So... the first three people to review get a one-shot requst for Harry Potter, or any other series they want (as long as I've seen it obviously) because I feel really bad for not updating... Fail me.

And when I say review I don't mean you saying 2 words... Just saying :)


	9. Change of Pace

Hey… 2 chapters in one day, you guys should love me

Actually I felt really bad about not updating for about what, 4 months? Haha Fail me.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you two perfect students, performed spells on James Potter and Sirius Black with the intent of harm?" Professor McGonagall asked as Ruby and Reed sat in front of her desk a couple hours later.

"Well technically, I had intent to harm," Reed said, "Ruby was just watering the flowers they happened to be sitting in front of." She smiled sweetly.

"You mean the flowers that everyone knows can water themselves?" McGonagall asked raising an eyebrow.

"Does it really?" Ruby asked playing dumb.

"You two can leave. I don't even want to know what happened," McGonagall said waving them off.

The two girls were dismissed and they wondered the corridors looking for Lily. Ruby started fumbling with her wand nervously, and Reed was pretty sure she knew why.

"Sirius isn't mad at you, you know." Reed said reassuringly.

"I know that. He already told me. He even said he thought it was sexy when I yelled at him."

"I think I made Remus hate me even more then he already does though."

"That's impossible, because he never hated you." Ruby said trying to comfort her.

"You have no idea Ruby. I told him he was worse then any werewolf."

"Ouch, how did he take that?" Ruby asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"He looked like I'd told him I was marrying Severus."

"That bad huh?" Ruby sighed.

"That bad Ruby."

"Well look at it this way. One, we studied our butts off, so we probably got all perfects on our O.W.L.'s, and secondly, Remus isn't a hateful person, so he'll get over it."

"Yeah, sure. That makes me feel so much better."

Ruby sighed, then she noticed Reed's arm, "Hey, your scar was gone for a couple of hours, didn't that salve work?" Ruby asked.

"Uh, yeah it did. I just stopped using it. I kind of like the scar." Reed said, and it was true. She was fond of her battle scar.

"You are one crazy girl. Anyways, I have to go help Sirius with an essay I promised I would help him write," Ruby smiled as she nodded behind Reed's shoulder, "Besides it looks like Matt Wood is on a mission, and I'm pretty sure it's codename Reed." Ruby laughed, and skipped off as Reed turned around to see Matt walking towards her.

"Hi Matt," Reed waved weakly as he got closer to her, "What are you doing out this late, it's almost curfew."

"Actually," Matt said, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Reed instinctively unrolled the sleeves of her robes so that the scar on her arm wasn't showing anymore, "What did you want to talk to me about?" Reed asked shifting her weight from foot to foot awkwardly.

"Well, you see. I was going to talk to you earlier this morning, but you seemed to be in an argument with James and Sirius… you know, uh down by the lake."

Reed almost laughed, "Yes, it's all been resolved now, but what did you want to talk to me about?" Reed asked quizzically.

"Well…erm… we've known each other for about four years now right?" Matt was looking at the ground.

"Well yeah, I suppose so," Reed frowned, what was he getting at? "Well…erm…I think you're wonderful, and I was just wondering if this weekend you'd like to go on a date with me to Hogsmead?" Matt asked looking at her face for the first time since they had started talking.

"A date?" Reed asked she had never really expected Matt; one of the more popular guys in Gryffindor to ask her to go with him anywhere, to refuse a date with him would be like choosing to commit social suicide.

"I-I mean, it wouldn't be like we were going out or anything!" Matt hurriedly said, his face was growing more scarlet every second, "It'd just be like a test run. If it goes well, we can go out on another date; if it doesn't then we can go our separate ways. Amicably, of course."

Reed shifted her weight to her left foot and started to chew on her bottom lip, a bad habit she resorted to when she became nervous. It wasn't like Matt wasn't attractive, because he was. His floppy, curly hair hung a little bit into his green eyes, but not so much that he looked like a bum, when he smiled, his dimples were visibly there, and his Scottish accent was so adorable, it was almost too much to stand. She'd be crazy if she didn't say yes right then and there.

Reed looked up, she was going to tell him no. She was going to hold on to her romantic fantasy of herself and Remus, but she saw him. She saw _him_. Remus was walking down the hallway towards the two. Reed made sure not to look him in the eye, trying to make sure that he didn't know she knew he was there.

Reed put a big smile on her face, pulled Matt into a big hug, and in a loud, cheerful voice she said, "Of course! I would love to go out on a date with you!" Reed looked past Matt's shoulder to see Remus, only feet away from the hugging pair; she smiled at him, then waved.

Matt turned around, breaking the brace between Reed and himself. He smiled awkwardly when he saw Remus standing behind them, stone faced. Matt laughed nervously as he stepped a few inches away form Reed.

"Well, uh, hello there Remus," Matt looked at the floor sheepishly, "Did you uh, need anything?"

Remus set his face into a cold look, "No. Actually I didn't." Remus gave an icy look towards Reed, turned on his heel, and stomped down the hallway. Reed watched his back as he left, a small smile spreading across her face. It wasn't like she was a vindictive spiteful girl. It was just that maybe once he knew what hurt felt like coming from the person you loved the most, he would understand how much of an ass he had been.

Francesca looked up from the grey couch as she heard the door to the Slytherin common rooms slam. She set her book down, saving her place before she shut it. She smiled once she saw Severus storming down the stairs.

"Aw, why so sad Severus?" Francesca asked raising an eyebrow.

"You know damn well why." Severus snapped, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, you poor baby. I told you she would say no. That little mud-blood has her stupid little eyes set only on that filthy blood-traitor Potter. She wouldn't even look twice at you." Francesca smiled, loosening her neck tie.

"You think I don't know that!" Severus yelled, swiping his arm across one of the tables, knocking a lamp off of it.

"Don't get testy with me. I already told you what was going to happen. But nooo, you had to go off and act like some big idiot. Look where it's gotten you now, _Snivellus_." Francesca laughed as she unbuttoned the top button to her crisp white blouse.

Severus looked at her angrily, and his scowl turned into a frown. His eyes almost began to water, but not quite. Francesca grinned at Severus, unbuttoning another one of the buttons on her shirt.

"Aw, is Severus going to cry?" Her laugh rung out in the common rooms, it echoed due to the fact that they were under the black lake.

Severus narrowed his eyes at her again, and made a low grunt, but otherwise didn't contradict what she was saying, because honestly, he thought he might. Francesca smirked, as she stood up.

"If you promise to stop being such a naughty boy, I think I'll be nice and let you have me again." Francesca said, putting a sly smirk on her tanned face.

Severus stood feet away from the couch; his once nearly saddened face was again set into a stoic scowl. He took two long strides over to where Francesca was standing, grabbed her wrist in anger and throwing her down on the couch. He leaned over her and tightened his other hand over her neck.

Although it was obvious Severus was trying to inflict some sort of pain on the Italian girl, she just began to laugh it off. In fact, she reached up and knotted her hands through his hair.

She smirked as she pulled him down closer to her, their faces only inches apart, "Now that's better Severus, wouldn't you agree?" Francesca smiled as she pulled him closer, biting his bottom lip.

Severus eased himself down onto the couch, half on top of Francesca.

"Now just forget about that stupid mud-blood. You have better things to do with your time than worry about her." Francesca said, grinning as she nipped at his lips. Due to this comment he stiffened again, the tension returning to his pale face.

"Aww, don't be that way, Sev. We were just starting to have fun. I've missed you these past couple days." She whispered into his ear, caressing the nape of his neck. Feeling the tension leave his stiff frame again, she slyly grinned, knowing she'd won him over.

Lowering the rest of the way onto the couch, Severus embraced Francesca, closing the distance between their two faces, olive and pale skin meeting, causing familiar flames to rise again.

He hated how lowly and stupid she made him feel. He hated how she could affect him like she did. Even worse, he hated how for some reason, even though she made him feel horrible, like he wasn't loved; she was also able to make him forget all of the horrible things he felt. All of the things that happened in the day disappeared when they were together, alone. She made him forget about her, she made him forget about those green eyes, about that red, curly hair and fiery temperament. And that was the most unforgivable thing of all. And even though it was unforgivable to him, for some reason he still found himself unbuttoning the rest of her buttons and unzipping her skirt.

* * *

What? Did you think there was going to be some smutty goodness? Haha, sorry, I'm horrible at that kind of thing. Actually the paragraphs where Severus and Francesca get kind of hot and heavy were thanks to the Author LizzAnn, I kept getting flustered every time I tried to write something. Oh dear haha.


	10. Polyjuice, Heartbreak, and Kisses

Oh dear… I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up… I'm thinking maybe I should hurry up and edit another one so I can make you guys happier…

Ugh… bad chapter is bad. Please don't be too harsh in your reviews hahah.

Chapter ten: Polyjuice, heartbreak, and kisses.

"So, how do I look?" Reed asked spinning around, today was her date with Matt, and she had put on muggle clothes instead of going to Hogsmeade in her school robes.

She was wearing an off-white wrap shirt, a grey pencil skirt, and knee high black boots. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and Lily had even put a little mascara on her eyelashes for her.

Lily sighed, "You look fine." She said frowning.

"Yeah," Ruby said mimicking Lily's obvious dislike, "Terrific."

Reed narrowed her eyes, "What is wrong with you two?"

"What's wrong with us?" Lily asked raising her voice, "What's wrong with you!"

"Yeah!" Ruby yelled, "You're supposed to be in love with Remus right? So why the hell are you going on a date with Matt? Are you mental?"

"No," Reed said, "I'm realistic. It's obvious that Remus is never going to even try to make me his girlfriend, or even a fling. So why not date like other normal people instead of refusing every offer I get so I can wait for him to decide what he wants?" Reed did one last twirl in the mirror and decided that she looked fine.

"But that's just it," Lily said, "Remus was probably going to gain the courage sooner or later, he just didn't want to do it right away since you were mad at him!"

"Whether I was mad at him or not shouldn't have mattered, if he had really cared, then he would have said something by now. Anyways," Reed said grabbing her bag and wand, "I'm not going to worry about it."

Ruby fell back into one of the plush red couches, "Yeah, go have fun then."

Reed gave the two girls apologetic smiles, "I'll see you guys after my date, and we'll go to Honeydukes, I'll pay?"

Lily's and Ruby's faces seemed to brighten a little at the mention of Reed paying for any amount of candy they would buy later on. The two girls nodded their heads, and gave Reed little smiles as she waved and ran out of the common rooms.

"Is she gone?" James asked as Lily and Ruby came down the girl's dorm steps.

"She's gone, don't worry," Ruby smirked.

"Do you have it then?" Sirius asked giddily.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." Lily muttered as she handed over the hairbrush she had used to help get the tangles out of Reed's hair, "What if she sees you walking down the street?"

"She won't," James smiled taking a long piece of blond hair from the brush, "Because the two of you will have taken care of her by then."

"Oh God," Lily moaned, "You make it sound like we're hit men or something like that."

"We could have just asked Francesca and her Italian mafia family to do it." Ruby muttered to no one in particular.

"Don't worry, it's not like you're killing her," Sirius said as he dragged the small black cauldron out from under the red couch Ruby was sitting on.

"Oh," Said Lily sarcastically, "Now that you put it that way, I feel so much better."

"Okay," James said excitedly, "Essence of Reedy goes in," he paused as he lowered the blond hair into the green liquid, they waited as it seemed to stir itself and then turn into a pretty lavender color, "Polyjuice potion comes out."

"Well," Sirius said pleasantly surprised, "That doesn't actually look all that bad."

James gave him a pointed look, "Well then you drink it."

Sirius held his arms up, "Sorry mate, but you already volunteered, I don't want to go out on a date with Matt, sorry."

"Who cares, just drink it already!" Ruby hissed growing impatient.

James nodded, and once they were sure everyone had left the common room to head off to Hogsmeade, James took a ladle full of the potion and downed it. His face scrunched up into a look of utter dislike for whatever it was he had just swallowed.

"Maybe you should drink a little more," Lily said, "You know just in case."

James nodded and begrudgingly took another large ladle-full of potion. Everyone stared at him, waiting for something to happen; nothing did though, "Well, that was a waste of…" James froze.

In a matter of seconds his skin began bubbling up, then sinking in, giving him a smaller, rounder face then he had had before. His dark messy hair grew all the way in until he was bald, and then long curly blond hair sprouted out, growing rapidly. His blue eyes started turning a little greener, but still remained almost the exact same. His skin lightened a shade, and his arms and legs, feet and hands, grew smaller and less hairy. The last thing to happen was his chest protruding out, giving him breast.

"Well…" Ruby started after James had made the complete transformation to Reed, "That was kind of awkward."

"Are those real?" Sirius asked poking James's new boobs.

"Stop that!" James yelled, "You just touched Reed's boobs!"

"Well," Ruby said laughing, "They're technically your boobs now James. Sorry."

"We should leave, like now." Lily said pointing to the grandfather clock that was resting in one of the corners of the common rooms.

"Right," James said, although Reed's voice came out, "I'm going to the three broomsticks to meet Matt, you two are going to Madame Puddifoot's stupid little café to meet Reed."

Ruby nodded and Lily groaned before saying, "She's going to kill us when she wakes up."

"Oh well, we're doing her a favor." Ruby shrugged laughing as the two girls walked out of the common rooms and out towards the trail that would lead them to Hogsmeade.

"Okay mate, well I guess it's just you and I now." Sirius said as the two grabbed the marauder's map out of one of the couch cushions. James tapped it with his wand, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The message they had put there four years earlier scrawled out across the weathered parchment.

"Well then," James said looking up the secret passage that would take them closest to The Three Broomsticks, "Let's get this thing rolling."

Reed was currently standing at the entrance of Madame Puddifoot's. She honestly hated this place, but she was sure Matt had sent her the message telling her to meet him here because he thought she would like it, since she was a girl and all. Sighing with slight boredom, Reed kicked around some of the green grass that was starting to grow now that the frost was over.

Where was Matt? He was already five minutes late. Five minutes wasn't a long time to be late was it? Maybe coming late was a requirement for dating, she should have asked Ruby. Reed turned around to look at the large shrubs when she thought she heard muffled voices. She didn't see anything and turned around to wait for Matt.

"Lily," Ruby hissed quietly, "Just do it already!"

"I…what if I don't do it right? What if I really hurt her?" Lily sounded frantic, she was going to use Stupefy, she had even been practicing all week so she could use it half power.

"You won't hurt her!" Ruby whispered angrily, "Do it!"

Lily nodded slowly and poked her Oak wand through the bushes so it was only inches away from Reed's back. Closing her eyes and concentrating on making the spell weaker, she whispered quickly, to get it over with, "Stupefy!"

They could hear a little gasp from Reed as she pitched forward and landed face first unto the ground. Lily ran around the bushes, Ruby following her close behind.

"I killed her!" Lily yelled franticly.

"Lily, calm down. She's still breathing. Let's go tell McGonagall that she doesn't feel good and take her back to the school before she wakes up."

Lily nodded slowly, picking up the bag Reed had dropped when she fell onto the grassy ground. They took her to McGonagall who had let them go back to the school. Ruby and Lily gently laid Reed back down in her bed, and deciding that she wouldn't wake up for a couple of hours they rushed off to see the rest of James's and Matt's date.

"I was surprised when you said you wanted to meet here," Matt said as he and James sat at a table at The Three Broomsticks talking at a table in the corner as other teens sat around talking to their friends, "I was actually going to suggest Madame Puddifoot's."

"Oh, I'm so glad you didn't." James said truthfully, that would have been the only thing that could have made this any worse, "I hate that place."

"Really?" Matt asked, "Well it's refreshing to know that. Normally that's where all the girls drag their boyfriends off to dates."

"Nope, not me." James said taking a swig of his drink, then remembering he was supposed to be Reed; he took a more polite sip.

"I'm really glad you said yes to coming out with me. You have no idea who nervous I was when I asked you, now it feels like I've known you forever though." Matt said placing his hand over one of James's.

James looked down at Matt's hand, it was annoying having to sit here taking all of this talk when he was a man. He was sure Sirius was having a grand old' time laughing it up somewhere in whatever corner he was sitting in.

"Me too," was all James could muster up; he put a fake smile on his face and took another sip of his drink.

"So," Matt started, "What's your family like?"

James raised his eyebrows, "My family? My sister June is a raving lunatic who likes messing with my life." James started.

"I thought you were an only child?" Matt asked quizzically.

James nearly panicked remembering he was Reed now, not himself, "Well, they're adopting me, so James and June are practically my siblings now."

"Oh, that's right. I heard that your aunt and uncle were adopting you. I'm really sorry about your parents by the way; to be in a Muggle car crash would be horrible."

"Yeah," James said, knowing it was a lie they told people at school to keep the rumors at bay, "You're telling me."

"What?" Matt asked not quite hearing him.

"Oh, I said thank you."

Matt smiled compassionately. James had to admit, if Remus wasn't one of his best mates, he would have gladly let Matt take Reed out on a date. But Remus was what Reed really wanted, whether she knew it or not, so Remus was going to be hers.

James looked up then as Lily and Ruby walked into the bar, giving him frantic looks and mouthing something that he couldn't make out. Was Reed still there? James looked out of the large window they were sitting beside just in time to see Remus rounding the corner, and heading straight for the bar. He caught sight of James and Matt, which wasn't really supposed to happen, and then he walked into the bar.

"Oh, hello Remus." Matt said as he stepped in the bar and looked at their table.

"Yeah," James said seething, "Hello Remus." He needed to go away; he was ruining the whole plan.

Remus walked closer to the table the two were sitting at. He looked at Matt first, and gave him a pleasant hello. Then he looked at James, who was Reed. So whatever he was going to say was going to be good, especially since Reed hated him at the moment. But Remus didn't actually say anything. Instead he walked two more steps to where James was sitting, and pulled him up by the arm.

James was sure that Remus was going to actually hit him. Maybe he had figured out about the Polyjuice potion they had stolen from the potions room and he was going to tell Matt, and therefore, ruin the whole damn plan that they had taken a week to come up with.

Instead there was a very different reaction then the one that James had foreseen. Obviously Remus had no idea that James had taken any sort of Polyjuice potion, because he was pulling on his waist and before he knew it, Remus was kissing him.

James didn't know how to react at first. It had taken him completely off guard. Of course he could hear the laughs and audible gasps coming from Sirius, Lily, and Ruby's table. After a few seconds when James had gotten his senses back he pushed Remus away. And once again, forgetting he was James and not Reed he started to yell and spit out saliva.

"Ugh!" James yelled, "Sick! Bloody hell!" He looked at Remus, "Dude! Merlin! Don't ever do that again!"

Remus looked taken aback, more then that, he looked outright devastated, obviously he had been thinking that a direct approach to his romantic problems with Reed would get better if he took a direct approach. It probably would have too, if it had actually been Reed.

James looked up to see the bar door slam open. Reed was standing in the doorway looking livid. She marched right up to James, and a confused looking Matt and Remus. She slammed her hand bag down on the table and rolled up the sleeves to her wrap shirt.

"You better defend yourself James Potter; otherwise you're in for a world of hurt!" Reed yelled.

"You aren't going to," James never got to finish his sentence because Reed had socked him right in the face.

"I can't believe you would do this!" Reed said picking up the hand bag and hitting him over the head with it, "How dare you pretend to be me!" she kicked him in the shin, "You ruined my date!"

"Your date was ruined when you said yes!" James yelled keeping his head ducked, "You don't even like Matt!"

Matt looked up at the real Reed with a hurt look on his face, "Is…is that true Reed?"

Reed looked at him, surprised. She obviously didn't think the topic of whether she liked him or not would come up, and she had nothing to say really as she smiled apologetically, "Matt please, I can explain."

"No, you don't have to." He scooted out of his seat and stormed out of the bar.

"Now look what you've done!" Reed yelled hitting James again, "Why do you always have to get into things that aren't yours to get into?"

"I was only trying to help!" James cried loudly, "I swear!"

"Help? Does it look like you helped at all!" Reed yelled, "I should hex you!"

"Reed, really you should calm down." Remus said quietly.

"Calm down!" Reed yelled looking up at him, "I will do no such thing!" But she didn't have a choice in the matter as Remus grabbed her waist like he had done James's, weaved his hand through her hair, like he had done James, and kissed her, like he had done to James. Only this time, knowing it was the real Reed, and not a fake, it was much more enjoyable.

Reed's tense muscles relaxed as she wrapped one arm around his neck, put her hand bag down on the table, and the wrapped the other around his head. She smiled, breathing in his scent. He smelled like Pine wood and the Gryffindor common room, which smelled like clean sheets due to the candles that the girls liked so much.

She longed to be closer, and it was obvious that he did to, because he wrapped his arms around her waist tighter, and drew her closer, lifting her feet off the ground. He set her back down a few seconds later when he pulled away from her to breathe.

Reed pulled back, her eyes still fluttering closed and open. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. There really was nothing to say. Taking a deep breath she nuzzled her head into Remus's chest. Maybe things would work out okay after all.

. . .

"I can't believe you kissed him!" Sirius yelled as the five of them sat on the couches in front of the fire place in the common rooms.

"I thought it was Reed!" Remus yelled turning pink.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "But still!" He yelled cracking up.

James was up in his room changing into his own clothes. After a while of walking around as Reed in Hogsmeade, he had turned back, and he was still in her clothes. A skirt and a top that was too small for him. When he came back down, the group started laughing again, all besides James and Remus of course.

"Ugh!" James yelled, "If you hadn't made out with her in the middle of the bar, I would have called you gay." James said.

"I thought you were Reed!" Remus yelled again, his face growing redder every time someone mentioned it.

"Well," Lily said turning the radio on, "It was funny either way you look at it."

James was about to say something in defense of his manhood when something the radio was saying caught their attention. Lily turned it up so they could all hear it clearly.

"Seven Death Eaters, as they are now calling themselves, have been arrested and sentenced to Azkaban recently for the murders of twelve muggle born witches and wizards in the past week. When the ministry was asked what they were doing about this frightening and obvious problem, they would not comment. Two Aurors were killed in the battle between the Death Eaters while they were resisting arrest."

Reed bit her bottom lip, "June is an Auror. So is Dad." She looked worriedly over at James who scoffed.

"Do you really think either of them would die from stupid cult followers?" James asked.

Reed seemed to take this as reassurance and nodded slowly, "Of course not."

"This is getting way out of hand." Lily said seething, "It should have been stopped when they were calling it a stupid fad. And now that people are dying, especially muggle-borns, they won't do anything about it."

"I wouldn't worry about it Lily," Ruby said waving it off, "The Ministry's Aurors will get rid of this creeper. You'll see, he won't be around for another whole year."

Lily stared at the radio as they went on to discuss more cheerful news, she wanted to believe Ruby. But something deep down inside of her made her feel like it was going to be anything but a quick, dying out fad.


	11. Changes

Okay so we skip a lot of time in this chapter, actually it's the start of their sixth year in Hogwarts. Also, by this time, Reed is officially Reed Potter. So James is now her brother and not her cousin :D

Anyways, have fun reading!

Chapter eleven

"We're sixth years now James!" Reed yelled excitedly as she slung one of her bags over her shoulder, and passed her trunk to her new father.

"I'm as surprised as you are." James muttered as he tired to put his sandy colored dessert owl in his cage, he was getting more scratches then anything.

"And I never have to go home again!" Sirius yelled excitedly.

Sirius had moved in with the Potters two months ago after a fight he had had with his mother. There were a lot of words thrown around, and his mother, thinking he had nowhere else to go, threw him out of the house completely and stopped paying for his Hogwarts education.

Of course the first place he had come to was the Potters. And when Reed saw him standing on the doorstep, soaked and desperate, she begged her new parents to let him stay. Of course they didn't need convincing, Sirius was like their son anyways, and they gladly agreed.

"You aren't even a little bit sad that you aren't going to see your brother or mother again?" Reed asked.

"You sound like you want me to go home!" Sirius laughed, feigning a look of genuine hurt, "Of course not. My brother is a Death Eater loving Slytherin and my mother is just plain bat shit crazy. I think here is a lot better." He smiled grabbing his trunks and putting them on the trolley.

"You kids aren't going to get in trouble this year are you?" Mrs. Potter asked. She was, of course, referring to the time at the very end of the year where they all snuck out after curfew and were caught sneaking around the school, trying to get to one of the secret passage ways shown on the Marauder's map.

"It was an accident!" Reed yelled before James or Sirius had a chance to defend themselves.

"Well then kiddies," June smiled, "Have fun okay. Tell that old bat I said hi, yeah?" June asked talking about McGonagall.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll tell her." James said trying to get away from the family before any embarrassing scenes could take place.

"We'll see you at Christmas then, right?" Allison asked.

"We'll see you at Christmas mum." Reed giggled. She liked calling her once Aunt, mom. It made her feel like she actually had responsible parents for once.

Allison dabbed the corner of her eyes, and then she wrapped the three teens in her arms, "My little babies are sixth years!" She cried.

This was exactly the type of thing James had been trying to avoid. Soon his mother let her three 'kids' go, and they rushed into the brick wall before any of the muggles saw them.

"Merlin," James muttered after they had gotten on the train, "This is why I wish we could get here on our own."

"I don't know James," Sirius said lounging in one of the seats, "I think your mum is pretty cool. I've never been hugged like that before." Sirius laughed.

"They're great aren't they?" Reed laughed.

"I keep forgetting you're his little sister now," Sirius sighed, "Must be a little more awkward for poor Moony."

"Why would it be awkward?" Reed asked genuinely confused as she stuffed her bags on the top railings.

James scoffed, but he didn't say anything. It was more awkward for him then for Remus he suspected. He had caught them snogging at the end of the year when they didn't think anyone was looking, and it made him want to gag a little.

"Oh Reeedy! Where areeee you?" Reed turned around when she heard someone calling her name from outside the compartment.

Soon, Ruby, Lily, and Remus had thrown open the train compartment door and they all filed in the rather large and spacious compartment. Ruby squealed and hopped up and down as she pulled Reed into a hug.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Ruby yelled.

"You saw me three months ago!" Reed giggled hugging her back, and then she caught sight of Lily, "Beautiful as ever I see!" She too squealed like Ruby had done and pulled Lily into a big hug.

"Oh please, stop," Lily giggled, "Not as pretty as you, look at your hair! It's getting so long now!"

"Oh, nobody thinks I got any prettier over the summer?" Ruby laughed.

"You can't," Sirius said pulling his girlfriend into his lap, "You were already the prettiest girl alive."

Ruby smiled and placed a soft peck on Sirius's lips, "That's why you make such a good boyfriend." Ruby smiled playing with his hair as she scooted over and sat down beside him.

"Why, because you have him so whipped?" James asked laughing.

"There's nothing wrong with being whipped mate. You'll find out soon enough." Sirius said winking at Lily who grew red in the face.

James scoffed as he grabbed Lily's things out of her hands and gently placed them on the overhead railings that were holding all of their things. Reed giggled when she saw Remus and ran into his arms.

Remus stood there, unsure of what to do. If they were by themselves, he would have hugged her back, most enthusiastically, he was however, not used to public displays of affection as of yet. But he quickly hugged Reed back after he saw the looks they were getting, and even blushed when Reed kissed him on the cheek.

"How cute!" Ruby giggled as Reed grabbed his scarred hand and pulled him into the seat beside her.

"Yeah," James mumbled to himself, "How cute." The happy couples around him were starting to bug him a lot. Especially now that Remus and Ruby had been going steady for around seven months now, when he was sure they wouldn't last more then two just because of Remus's stupidity at times.

No one but Lily seemed to hear him, and she only gave him a frown as she sat down on the other side of Reed. Leaving James to sit in between Sirius and the window.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was more or less the most boring thing James had done all year. Reed had fallen asleep early on, her head now resting in Remus's lap. Remus was playing with her hair and reading the daily prophet. Lily was emerged in a book she had just bought. And Sirius and Ruby had only eyes and ears for each other.

When the train finally came to a complete halt, James said a silent prayer and joyfully started getting everyone's things off of the railings for them. Reed even untwined her hand from Remus's, who didn't look to hurt that she left his side, to come wrap her arm around James's as they climbed into the carriage that would take them up to the school.

"Merlin, it's good to be back!" Sirius yelled as they entered the great hall.

"It's going to be a good year. I can tell." Lily said happily.

"Yeah, as long as you're not a mud-blood." Francesca said as she approached the six teens, Severus and another Slytherin Sixth year girl trailing close behind her.

"And I spoke to soon." Lily grumbled narrowing her eyes slightly.

Reed noticed how Severus twitched a little when Francesca called Lily a mud-blood and she frowned. He shouldn't be hanging out with them when it was obvious it made him uncomfortable at times.

"Don't call her that!" James yelled stepping in front of Lily, like he was trying to protect her from words.

"Well, it's only the truth," Francesca laughed, she turned her eyes on Reed then who stepped closer to Remus and clutched his arm, he patted it comfortingly, "And would you look at that. A perfectly good pureblood dating a werewolf." Francesca laughed.

"Don't call him that!" Reed said stepping out from behind Remus.

"It's sick really. Send me a card when the puppies are born and I'll be sure not to send a gift."

Reed's face turned scarlet red at the mention of puppies. Ruby actually coughed, trying to keep her amusement of Reed's embarrassment at bay. Francesca looked at her then and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't even get me started on you, you filthy blood traitor," Francesca sneered, "I heard how your father helped some mud-bloods out of the country over the summer. Of course he paid for it in the end."

"Shut up!" Ruby yelled.

Reed, Lily, Remus, James, and Sirius turned to Ruby. They obviously had not heard about this. Ruby's face grew as red as Reed's had been a second ago. Francesca raised her eyebrows amused.

"What she didn't tell you?" She scoffed, "What a horrible friend."

"I said to shut your stupid mouth!" Ruby yelled stepping forward, but Sirius stepped in front of her.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I…I…" Ruby looked at the floor, her face getting red.

"Let's just say Mr. Taylor became very familiar with the Cruciatus curse."

"That's illegal!" Lily yelled getting into the argument now.

Francesca scoffed, "Your point being Mud-blood?"

"I told you to stop calling her that!" James yelled to the surprise of some first years that were passing by.

"Whatever. Let's go. I have better things to do then hang around blood traitors and mud-bloods all day." Francesca spun around on her heel and left, the girl following immediately, Severus stayed for a few seconds.

His mouth opened like he was going to say something. And a pained look spread across his face as he looked at Lily. But he closed his mouth, and like Francesca had done, he spun on his heel and sped off.

"Stupid git." Lily muttered watching his back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sirius asked, everyone turned around to see Sirius bent over Ruby protectively. His face a mere inch or so away from hers, his hair was obscuring her face, so no one could see what expression she was wearing, but they could see her shoulders shake, and they knew she was crying.

"H-He's okay. Just cut up and bruised. But when he got home, my mom was screaming for me. He was bleeding all over the carpet, and his hand was sliced open. He made me promise when I was fixing up his hand not to tell anyone. That if anyone else knew, he was afraid that they would come after my mom and I next."

"Oh, Ruby. You should have told me." Sirius said pulling her into an embrace while she shook from the crying.

"Ruby…" Lily said after she stopped crying, "When you said he was afraid they would come after your mom and you, who did he mean?"

"The Corleones. They were the ones who tortured him."

"Oh, Ruby. I'm so sorry. You could have come to my house and stayed with me over the summer if you had wanted too." Lily said soothingly, rubbing her back.

"I'm fine, really. It happened at the very beginning of the summer, practically the day I got home. I'm over it now." Ruby plastered a fake smile over her face, and the six teens filed into the great hall, and into seats at their house table.

Remus shuffled in slower then normal, and when he sat down beside Reed, the look on his face was anything but happy. Reed frowned and nudged him a little whispering so she wouldn't interrupt the sorting ceremony, "What's wrong?"

Remus smiled weakly at her, "Nothing. I'm fine."

Reed narrowed her eyes, "Don't tell me that you're fine. Because I know you aren't."

Remus twitched irritably for a second before he frowned sadly, "I'm just sorry that I didn't say anything to her when she was making fun of you."

"Oh, Remus. Don't worry about it. She didn't make me mad or upset or anything."

"You… you got embarrassed when she… when she made the puppy comment…" Remus trailed off, he wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to say.

"Of course I got embarrassed," Reed laughed grabbing hold of his arm, "I don't want Francesca Corleone talking about my romantic life with other people standing around, especially the goons she had standing with her."

Remus seemed to cheer up at that statement, "So, I don't embarrass you then?" Remus asked.

Reed smiled warmly, and she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, "Remus John Lupin, there is not one part of you that makes me embarrassed."

"Well then…" Remus smiled turning pink.

When Reed turned around to watch the sorting ceremony, not only did she see James making gagging motions, but she saw Professor McGonagall give her a pointed look. Reed turned pink again and ducked her head a little bit.

"Warren, Anna." McGonagall called as a small red-headed, brown-eyed, freckled girl made her way up to the stool that they always set out for the students to sit in. She sat down and smoothed her skirt out as she waited for McGonagall to place the hat on her head.

"She reminds me of you Evans." James said jokingly to Lily.

"Well then, let's hope she isn't in Gryffindor." Lily shot back.

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled, the Gryffindor table applauded as the young girl ran to the table smiling.

"Well, isn't that ironic." Lily said laughing at James's sour look.

"Zorn, Anastasia." McGonagall called as a girl with long blond hair sashayed her way to the bar stool. Her eyes were a sparkling blue color, and she had a certain sneer on her face, but she looked outstandingly beautiful anyways.

"Let's hope she's in Gryffindor." Sirius laughed with James.

"Ew! She's eleven!" Reed gasped kicking Sirius from under the table.

"I was joking!" Sirius yelled rubbing his knee.

"I wasn't," James laughed, "She'll be a looker in a couple of years."

"Disgusting." Lily muttered.

"Slytherin!" the hat called.

"To bad," Ruby sighed, "And she looked so normal too."

The small blond girl ran to the Slytherin table with a happy look on her face, and when she got there, Francesca snapped at the girl sitting next to her, and waved Anastasia over to sit by her.

"Oh Merlin." Reed muttered, "She's already recruiting new evil bitches."

"Reed!" Lily hissed, "She could be a nice girl for all we know."

"Really Lily?" Ruby asked a confused look on her face.

"Well…oh, never mind!" Lily huffed turning back around.

The sorting ceremony was over, and the new first years, and the older kids shuffled out of the great hall and into their common rooms. When the six teens got to their common room, they were surprised to see Peter sitting there by himself.

"Peter!" Reed yelled surprised, she hadn't seen him at first, and he scared her when he was suddenly there, "Why weren't you at the sorting ceremony?" Reed asked the slight mousy boy.

"I…I was late catching the train. So my mom had to bring me here personally."

"Oh, bad luck for you Wormtail." Sirius said as he flopped down on the couch.

"Did you hear about the new Slytherin girl yet?" Peter asked as they lit the fire in the fireplace.

"Which one?" Ruby asked snuggling up to Sirius.

"Anastasia Zorn," Peter said.

"What about her, Wormtail?" James asked as he poked at the fire with the poker.

"Her parents are Death Eaters." Peter said.

"Yeah, so are every other Slytherin's parents." Lily scoffed.

"Yeah, well her father was just sent to Azkaban because he was caught torturing a group of muggle born witches and wizards. There were five of them. Had to all be sent to Saint Mungo's." Peter said sadly.

"Sick bastard." James muttered.

"One of them was Hank." Peter said after a few moments of silence.

"H-Hank?" Reed asked, "Hank from the Quidditch team?"

Peter just shook his head sullenly, "It's horrible isn't it?" he asked.

"Sick bastard." James muttered.

"I…I think I'm going to go to bed." Reed said after a little bit.

"I'll come with you." Ruby said giving Sirius a quick kiss.

Reed leaned over and hugged Remus and smiled, "Goodnight Remus."

"Goodnight Reed." He smiled back happily as the two girls walked up the stairs to the girls sleeping quarters.

"And you said I was whipped." Sirius laughed, "But they have a good idea. It's late, I'm tired, and class starts tomorrow."

"I'm coming to." Remus said yawning.

"Me too." Peter squeaked.

"Coming James?" Sirius asked as he was half way up the stairs.

"Nah, I'm going to stay down here for a bit."

"Suit yourself." Sirius said as he walked up the rest of the stairs yawning.

Soon it was just Lily and James left in the common room. Lily sitting on the couch, James sitting on the floor, tending the fire. Lily saved her place in her book, and put it down slowly. She sighed before she talked.

"I…I wanted to thank you for defending me today." She said, although it sounded like she really didn't want to say it.

"It was nothing Lily, anyone would have done it," James turned around to give her a friendly smiled, and was surprised. Instead of the frown she normally had on her face when she talked to him, she had a smile spread across her lips.

"Either way, it was… it was nice of you," She said getting up off the couch and stepping closer to James. She kneeled down so that she was level with him. She smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "Thank you. For not being a git." Lily stood and walked up the stairs to get to the girls' bedrooms.

"Wait, Lily!" James whispered loudly, but she was already in her room.

Contrary to what had already happened that evening, James had to admit. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad year after all.

So this chapter was longer then chapter 10 by a whole page so… be happy..? Haha. Anyways, remember the more reviews, the more apt I am to update faster, although I wouldn't not update because of little reviews, that's just mean

Um but… Please review….

Every time you don't review Voldy kills a little bunny!


	12. Just Like Old Times

I don't like this chapter very much… it's kind of a filler chapter, I thought I should post something soon since I've been falling behind on deadlines, so I'm rushing this kind of…

Sorry…

* * *

Chapter 12

"James. James wake up," James Potter rolled over in his bed, pulling his scarlet red blanket over his head, hoping it would drown out the sound that was waking him up.

"James Potter," Said another, more forceful voice, "If you don't wake up right now, we'll be late for classes. And if we're late for classes I will kill you."

James threw his blankets over his head, "Fine!" He yelled swinging his legs over the bed, "Whatever I have to do to shut you people up!"

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your sister." Reed smiled, she tried to remind him that she was officially adopted every single chance she got.

"You're worse then June so it doesn't count." James said pulling a crisp white shirt on.

"Just hurry up." A forceful voice, Lily Evans, said.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." James yawned as he pulled on a pair of black pants and threw his robes on.

"Tie." Sirius reminded him as he walked out of the boy's bathroom.

"Let me get it." Lily said as she saw him fumble with it, trying to, unsuccessfully, tie it by himself.

"T-thanks." James said looking away as she set her bags down on his bed and started tying his tie.

"And he said I was whipped…" Sirius muttered as he sifted through all of his bags for his text books.

When the four of them had finished waking James up, and had gotten their stuff ready, they walked down into the hallway that had the changing staircases.

Ruby sighed, "What do you guys have first?"

"Advanced Potions." Lily, Reed, and Remus said at the same time.

James dug through his pocket, trying to find his schedule. When he dug it out and had a chance to look at it, he groaned, "Ancient Ruins."

"That's a hard class…" Lily said trailing off.

"Yeah, why are you taking it?" Sirius asked.

"Oh shove off," James said, "I'm actually pretty smart you know. McGonagall is making me take the class. Said I have to 'broaden my horizons' whatever that means."

"What do you have Sirius?" Reed asked peeking over at his schedule, "Ooh. Bad luck there. I hated that class. Had it last year with Lily and Ruby." Reed giggled.

"Yeah, well magical history isn't exactly my cup of tea." Sirius grumbled. "To bad you guys don't at least have first classes together." Ruby sighed sympathizing.

"To bad?" Lily asked, "You mean thank the gods. They might actually learn something if they're not bickering back and forth during class."

"Well, we have to go this way." Remus said as he, Lily, Ruby, and Reed stepped onto one of the staircases.

"See you later James!" Reed called as James and Sirius walked in opposite directions.

"See you later James," James mimicked to himself in a high pitched voice, "Who needs advanced potions anyways."

James sighed as he sat down in one of the seats in his ancient ruins classroom. It looked like it was a mixed class, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. He sighed. He hated taking classes with Ravenclaws, they made everyone else look stupid. Evans should have been in Ravenclaw, she was smart enough, and she liked to make people look stupid, it was a perfect combination.

As he was setting his book on his desk and opening his notebook of parchment open to a blank page, he heard a voice from behind him, "C-Can I sit here, I mean, that is if you don't mind."

James turned around to see a girl. She had long pitch black hair that fell around her shoulders in waves. Her bright blue eyes looked clearer then any body of water he had ever seen. She had a light splash of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and she was slender, in a good way. James recognized her as a sixth year Ravenclaw. He couldn't quite remember her name though.

"Y-yeah. Sure you can sit here."

"Oh thank god!" She giggled, it was a nice twinkling sound, "All my friends have different classes then me, and I was so afraid I'd be stuck with mean people." She smiled. She probably had the most perfect set of white teeth he had ever seen.

"Yeah, me too. I mean my friends all have different classes. Advanced potions."

"Oh, killer. I hate Slughorn; otherwise I probably would have taken it." She laughed again, and James found himself laughing, just because she was.

"My name is Rowena Burwell, and you are?" Rowena asked.

"James Potter. So, did you change your name after you were sorted into Ravenclaw?" He joked.

"Oh, no!" She laughed, "My mother and father were both Ravenclaws and they had a little bit too much pride for their house. I got the raw end of the deal."

"No, no," James said smiling, "Rowena is a pretty name."

"Well, thanks. Most people just make fun of me…" Rowena smiled coyly.

"Why would anyone make fun of a girl like you? You're obviously smart, you're pretty, and you seem like a nice girl." Way to go Potter, James thought to himself, now she probably thought he was a creep.

Rowena blushed, "Why haven't I met you before?" she laughed, "I think I would have had more self-esteem."

"Okay class!" Called the professor, "Are you ready for a fun year of Ancient Ruins?" He bounced on his heels excitedly, while he was met with an audible call of groans.

"Well," James said, "Now that I know you, it might be a fun year of ancient ruins."

Rowena smiled, "Likewise James Potter."

"Why did I ever sign up for this class?" Ruby asked banging her head on the table she, Lily, and Reed shared.

"Well at least you aren't paired up with her." Lily said pointing to Remus's table, which he shared with one other Gryffindor and Francesca Corleone.

"I swear if she says anything mean to him…I'll…I'll do something." Reed growled, not exactly sure what she would do if it came to a conflict.

"Don't worry; I think Slughorn can handle it." Lily said sarcastically.

"I could always blast her out of the room for you Reedy." Ruby winked.

Reed groaned, "No, I don't feel like having the Mafia come after my family."

"To bad we just can't kill her." Lily muttered.

"Lily!" Ruby yelled laughing as she added whatever it was that Reed had passed her.

"Why couldn't I have been paired up with Remus…?" Reed asked.

"Is there something wrong with us?" Lily asked stirring slowly, like the board told them too.

"Well…no offense, but I don't exactly think about you two that way." Reed sighed.

"Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about, look," Ruby said, "He's inching away from her every chance he gets."

"Good." Reed said, and distracted as she was from glaring at the back of Francesca's head, she turned around and hit the table on accident, causing Lily to drop the rest of whatever she had into the cauldron.

"I…I hope you were supposed to add the whole thing…" Ruby said hopefully.

"…Just a pinch…" Lily muttered backing away from the cauldron a little bit.

"H-how much was in there?" Reed asked watching as the potion turned from the right red color to black.

"About a million pinches." Lily gulped as the cauldron started smoking, and with a loud bang, liquid spurted out of the black cauldron and hit the three girls.

Reed shrieked as she was hit with an onslaught of black liquid. It sunk into her clothes and she freaked even more trying to wipe it off of her. Ruby stared at her like she wanted to tear her throat out, and Lily was trying to get it out of her hair.

Remus looked back at their table and smiled as he saw the three girls covered in black, oozing liquid. Francesca shook her head and went back to their own potion.

"Well at least nothing happened…" Lily said looking her hands and arms over.

"NOTHING HAPPENED!" Reed yelled holding her hands up, "My hands are WEBBED Lily!"

Ruby looked at her hands, and there was indeed flaps of skin in between Reeds finger, "You're like… a platypus now Reed." She couldn't help it, and soon she was laughing.

"Yeah," Reed said narrowing her eyes, "Well at least I don't have a tail."

"I don't have a…" Ruby craned her neck to look at her back, and there was indeed a ducks backside sticking out of her robes.

Lily looked at her hands again, and then her back. Nothing looked wrong with her at least. Until Reed pointed to her head. Lily groaned, "What is it?"

"Do you like Peacocks?" Reed asked.

"Why?" Lily cried stomping her foot.

"You kind of have a head dress now. It's really pretty though if it makes you feel any better." Reed laughed, she turned around so she could grab something to clean off the rest of the liquid with, but she didn't get far since Slughorn was standing right at the end of their table.

"Hi Professor… I guess this means we don't get a perfect score…huh?" Reed asked.

"That would be a wise assumption Ms. Potter."

Lily groaned again, and Ruby just laughed. Already it was the first day of school and they had already destroyed something.

"Oh, why are you here?" Reed asked as she, Lily, and Ruby walked into the detention room and saw Sirius and James already sitting there.

"Why are we here? Why are you three here?" Sirius asked.

"Reed had an accident in Potions today." Lily said, happy that her head full of feathers had disappeared by then.

"Well, not like it's her first time." James muttered as he let his head fall down on the desk with a loud bang.

"Why are you here?" Ruby asked the two again.

"I accidentally said something mean… about the professor looking like a bulldog, only twenty times worse or something like that. I can't remember. Apparently, she has really good hearing though." Sirius laughed it off.

"Why are you here James?" Lily asked taking a desk beside him.

"I… we were translating Ruins, and I thought I would be funny."

"Isn't that how it always happens?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Right, well let's just say I didn't translate it like the Professor would have liked."

"At least Rowena thought it was funny." Sirius reminded him.

"Rowena?" Reed asked confused.

"Rowena Burwell, the Ravenclaw sixth year." James muttered.

"James fancies her, the way I see it," Sirius laughed, "Tell them like you told me mate." Sirius laughed, "She had eyes that were as clear as the sky, and her laugh made him think of bells. Not to mention that every time she smiled he…" Sirius was cut off as a blue spark flew over his head.

"Shut up!" James yelled embarrassed, he looked flushed.

"I think it's cute." Reed giggled, taking a side glance at Lily who looked less then pleased.

"Ravenclaws are a bunch of stuck up snobs anyways." Lily huffed, much to no one but James's surprise.

"I thought you had Ravenclaw friends?" Ruby asked raising her eyebrows.

"No I don't." Lily said narrowing her eyes and giving Ruby one of her shut up now before I kill you looks.

"Well," James said, "It's been nice sitting with you all, but I think I have to go now."

"Go where?" Reed asked suspiciously.

"Just to get something…" James trailed off waggling his eyebrows at Sirius so he would follow him.

"Oh," Sirius said getting up, "You know, I should help you with that."

"Why can't you get whatever it is you need after detention?" Lily asked narrowing her eyes at the two boys.

"Well we went…Mushroom picking, and I uh… dropped something." James muttered.

Reed's eyes widened, "James! You didn't!"

"Didn't do what?" Lily asked.

"You went into the Forbidden forest just so you could play a prank on someone!"

"What did they do?" Ruby asked.

Reed sighed, "They picked Stenchling Mushrooms. I thought I saw one in your room this morning, but I didn't think you had been that stupid."

"Stenchling Mushrooms?" Lily asked, "For what?"

"You guys weren't going to add them to your potions when you had class tomorrow were you?" Ruby asked moaning.

"Maybe…" Sirius said trailing off.

"Do you realize that they would have to quarantine the Potions room for almost a week!" Lily yelled.

"Uh, yeah Evans," James laughed, "that's the whole point."

"Why are you going back?" Reed asked.

"James dropped a snitch in the forest." Sirius said at once.

"Why are you going back for a snitch?" Ruby asked.

"Cause he's stupid and he has his name written all over it." Reed said sighing.

"Are you stupid Potter!" Lily shrieked, "You could get months worth of detentions for this! Or you could get expelled!"

"Uh, that's kind of why we're going back." James said.

"Well if you're going so am I." Reed said grabbing her wand off of her desk.

"And if Reed is going, I am too." Ruby said standing with the three of them.

They all turned and looked at Lily expectantly then. She huffed, folded her arms over her chest and turned around so they were looking at her back, "If you think I'm risking expulsion to get you out of trouble, then you have something else coming to you."

"That's okay," Reed said smiling, "We can just go get Rowena. I've heard she knows her way around the forest anyways. And she's a Ravenclaw, so she would be smart enough to get us out of a pickle."

Lily turned back around to look at Reed. She huffed again, grabbed her wand from her desk and followed them, "You are such a bitch." Lily whispered as she passed Reed.

"You're the one who took the bait." Ruby laughed as they snuck out of the detention room and swiftly walked down the hall.

James took a corner without looking, and collided into someone who and been coming around the other way. James laughed when he saw who it was.

"Looks like Moony is coming with us." James said as he helped Remus up.

"Coming where?" Remus asked looking at all of them, "Aren't you supposed to be in detention?"

"Not anymore," Reed giggled, "We have to make sure James doesn't get expelled first."

"Where are we going?" Remus asked as Reed drug him along behind them.

"The Forbidden forest." Ruby said nonchalantly.

"The Forbidden… are you guys crazy! This is not a good idea at all. There are all kinds of things in there that have the potential to hurt you. I mean it! We're going to get eaten!" Remus yelled as they jogged across the schools grounds toward the edge of the Forbidden forest.

"We'll be fine Moony," Sirius laughed, "There's six of us."

"Yeah, and about a million things in there that could KILL US!" Remus yelled again as they stood at the very edge of the forest. Only a foot away from being inside of it.

"Don't worry," Reed smiled squeezing his hand, "We'll be fine." And with that, she followed the others into the forest. Remus sighed, defeated, and walked in after them.

* * *

Ummm yeah... hahaha.

Review? I practicaly survive on them :)

If I horribly misspelled something, please let me know, I'll go back and fix it :)


	13. Bad Dream

Well... I have a feeling this chapter isn't going to be well liked by some people, but I did what I had to, after all this fic wasn't supposed to be all Sunshine, butterflies, and rainbows haha.

Still, I hope you enjoy it :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, although I do own all of my original characters.

* * *

Chapter 13: Bad Dream

"Aiee!" Reed shrieked loudly as she stepped on something else slimy and icky. When she raised her foot to look at the bottom of her shoe, whatever it was she had stepped on was oozing something black.

"God!" Ruby yelled putting her wand back down, "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Don't you ever do that again!" James yelled, "I thought someone had killed you!"

"Well James," Lily said sarcastically, "She wouldn't be screaming if someone had killed her."

"You should have been in Slytherin. Screw the pureblood rule." James muttered as they continued tracking through the forbidden forest.

They had been at it now for about fifteen minutes, and it would be minutes, seconds maybe when someone would finally notice they were gone. Then, they would all get in trouble, and none of them would be able to continue their Hogwarts education. It was bad enough that Petunia already hated her, if she got thrown out, she'd hate her more. On second thought, maybe she would be happy.

"If we get caught, I think I'll tell them that you forced me to come." Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Tell them whatever you want to sweet cheeks." James muttered.

"I-I think I should have listened to you…" Reed whispered to Remus.

"Oh, do you now? It would have been helpful if you had listened to me about twenty minutes ago." Remus spat angrily.

Reed frowned, "I'm sorry we made you come…"

Remus sighed, he couldn't be mad at her. He kissed her forehead lightly and patted the arm that was clutching on to his, "Its okay. I wasn't going to let you go in here without me anyways."

"I think we're getting close to where I left it." James said as he tripped over a tree branch, almost falling flat on his face, he caught his balance at the last moment.

"Lumos," Ruby said flicking her wand.

"Why did none of think of that before?" Sirius sighed as he to lit up his wand with the spell.

"Lumos." Reed and Remus both lit their wands.

Deciding that they had enough light now, Lily didn't even bother, she could see perfectly fine. Ruby sighed almost angrily as they walked for another five minutes.

"Have you found it yet?" She asked.

"No. Hey, you didn't have to come with us, you volunteered yourself." James said pointing his lit up wand at the forest floor.

"Yeah, because I thought you knew where it was!" Ruby yelled crossly.

"Well sorry to disappoint you!" James yelled back irately.

"James!" Reed yelled, "Shut up! I think I hear something."

Everyone quieted down. They could all indeed hear the twigs snapping under pressure of something walking over them. Reed moved closer to Remus, and Ruby grabbed Sirius's arm in fright.

"It's probably just professors coming to get us and haul us back to the school." James muttered.

"That would make so much sense," Lily hissed, "Considering that the noise is coming from the opposite direction of the school!"

"Lily! Quiet!" Ruby whispered.

"Nox." Reed muttered extinguishing the light her wand was emitting.

Everyone else followed suit and eliminated the lights that were coming from the tips of their wands. All except James. Reed glared at him.

"Do you want to be eaten?" She snarled.

"Eaten? I don't think McGonagall, or Sprout or whoever they sent after us is going to kill…" James was cut off by a loud scream from Reed.

"Let go!" She yelled as a masked figure appeared behind her and grabbed her around the waist making sure her arms were bound.

"Relashio!" Remus yelled pointing his wand at the masked person holding Reed.

But before the spell could hit him, he vanished into thin air. Leaving nothing but black smoke behind him, "R-Reed…" Lily said shaking.

"Ahh!" Ruby yelled as another masked figure appeared and grabbed her, before anyone had a chance to react, three more masked men had come out of nowhere, and now not only were Reed and Ruby gone, but so was Lily, Remus, and Sirius. Leaving James the only one left.

He stood silent in the woods. All of his friends, his family was gone. He was the only one left. Should he try and call for help…or help them? He was conflicted between what would help them out more…what of they were going to be tortured? The choice was a simple one to make after that thought had come to him.

"You forgot one!" He yelled as loud as he could, and soon his own masked demon had come to take him. He didn't struggle.

"R-Ruby. Are you okay?" Ruby tried to shut her eyes tighter, her head hurt, and whoever was calling her name was making it worse.

"Ruby, you should wake up." She recognized Sirius's voice then, and if he was telling her it was a good idea to wake up, well then she would wake up.

"What's going on?" She asked after she opened her eyes. She was laying on her side, so all she could see were black robes, so she wasn't to sure who was sitting beside her.

"We've been kidnapped." Lily hissed looking straight at James.

Ruby tried sitting up, only to realize she had something…something cold holding her arms tightly against her sides. She rocked back and forth until she could sit up on her butt. They were in what looked like a tent, with a small burning lantern. There was nothing but dirt covering the bottom, and there were only a few crates littering the ground.

"Where are we?" She asked looking around.

"We're in a death eater camp." Sirius said rather cheerfully for the position they were in.

"A WHAT?" Ruby yelled.

"Be quiet!" Remus shushed her, "We don't want to attract anymore attention to ourselves then we already have!"

Ruby frowned, but she didn't say anything as loud as she had just before, so instead she began to whisper, "What are they going to do with us?"

"We're…we're not sure." Reed muttered, keeping her eyes on the ground, she was sitting in a corner by herself, she couldn't crawl over to any of them either since her feet were shackled to the ground, Sirius and James's were as well.

"Well, they won't kill us." Lily said after a few moments of silence, "at least not yet. We haven't done anything. We didn't even know they were here until they caught us."

"They probably just want something to torture that'll actually scream." Sirius said, still rather cheerful.

"What is wrong with you?" Remus asked wide-eyed, "Fine. We'll tell them to take you first then."

"S'alright with me." Sirius said trying to shrug, the chains made it a bit difficult though.

"If we're going to die…" Reed started slowly and quietly, her voice shaking.

"We aren't going to die." Remus said trying to be comforting, but he sounded just as unsure.

"Just in case," Reed continued, "I want to say that I love you all, and I'm glad I got detention on my first day of school our first year. And that I'm glad we're all friends. And I will haunt you for the rest of your life James."

"I'll help you." Lily hissed, still looking at James.

"I'm glad I met you too Reedy. I'm glad I met all of you. Especially you." Ruby said nudging Sirius as best she could.

"Yeah," Sirius smiled, "Me too." Then he waggled his eyebrows.

"Sorry to interrupt your loving moment," Said a man entering the tent, "But we're taking one of you for questioning."

Lily didn't like the look of the man. His long greasy hair was stringy and it made her cringe. He had a hooked nose, and a long scar running down the left side of his face, and his beard looked like it probably had yesterdays lunch still in it.

"Which one of you is a mud-blood?" He asked giving them an open mouthed grin, letting them see his yellow teeth.

No one said anything for a second, and then Sirius spoke up, "I'm a mud-blood."

Lily rolled his eyes, if the death eater in the tent was any smarter then he looked, he would know Sirius wasn't a muggle born. James just put an astonished look on his face; he didn't think Sirius would openly volunteer for torture.

"You isn't any mudblood. You're that Black kid. Who's the real mudblood?"

"If you don't start talkin', I'll just pick one of yous by random," He said this while taking ahold of James's hair.

"It's me!" Reed yelled at once, "Please, just don't hurt any of them. Please."

"Reed!" Remus yelled, "What are you doing!"

"I can't let them hurt any of you." Reed said as the big, disgusting Death Eater threw her over his shoulder, "I'll be okay." Reed smiled, "Besides you said they weren't going to kill us." Reed smiled as her face disappeared and the tent flap went back down.

"Reed..." Remus started unsure of what had really just happened, "REED!" He tried to get up and walk to the tent entrance, but he just fell flat on his face, but still he crawled like an inch worm towards the entrance, "Reed! Bring her back! Give her back…" Remus stopped crawling, the chain that was holding him to the ground had run out of length and he was left laying on the dirt floor, his face getting wet from tears, and raw from his crawling.

"She'll… she'll be fine. I know she will. Reed is a fighter." James said trying to stay calm.

"She'll be fine?" Remus yelled, "It's your fault she's out their in the first place! If you hadn't been so stupid! If you had actually listened to us for once! We wouldn't be here!"

James looked to everyone, for someone to say something different, for someone to tell him that they didn't blame him for the position they were in now.

"Sorry mate," Sirius said still rather positive, "He's right. I still love you though."

"We blame you." Ruby said after a while, "But we don't… hate you."

"Oh I don't know." Lily said, "I think I hate him pretty much right about now."

"Don't worry Prongs," Sirius started, "We'll tell this story in ten years like it was funny."

"Oh yeah," Lily spat sarcastically, "Remember that one time when James got us caught by Death Eaters, and they killed Reed because they would have tortured him instead. God that was so fun!" She said this while she had her eyes in angry slits, aimed at James.

"Who are you?" A different Death eater, one that looked very familiar yelled at Reed.

She had long black hair, dark eyes that seemed to go on and on and on, her face was actually very pretty, but the insane, feral look that she had plastered on to it was a little unsettling.

"L-Lily Evans." Reed said. It was the only thing she could think of, and maybe Lily would be okay if they thought she was her.

"Evans… Look it up for me." The woman said to a man standing near the stake they had Reed tied to, when he didn't move she shrieked at him, "I said look it up!"

"Y-Yes mistress Black."

Black. Of course. That was why she looked so familiar; she was related to Sirius in some odd way. Reed stood there wondering how. They really did look similar now that she had a good look at her.

"She-she's telling the truth mistress. She's a mudblood, from the Gryffindor house, a sixth year."

"Ah, so you know stupid little Sirius then…" the woman trailed off. Meanwhile, in the tent, everyone had convinced Sirius not to yell that he was right there in the tent, since they could hear everything, "What are you doing in these woods you filthy mudblood?"

"My friends and I were looking for something… we had lost it a while back."

"You lost something in the Forbidden forest?" She asked, a certain sneer to her voice.

"We had lost it on a dare to put it here." Reed said, her voice starting to shake, this woman scared the hell out of her.

"Why were you spying on our camp?"

"Sp-spying? We weren't spying, I swear."

"Stop lying you filthy mudblood!"

"I'm not lying!" Reed yelled desperately.

"Lies!" Hissed the woman, "Cruccio!"

"Ahhh!" Reed screamed in pain, "I swear!" She yelled, "We weren't spying! I swear! Please stop!"

"I won't stop until you tell us why you were here!" The woman hissed.

"We weren't spying!" Reed yelled in pain, she started to sob when she wasn't screaming in pain.

"T-they're going to kill her if they keep this up…" Lily whispered, her voice was shaky and when they heard Reed scream again, tears started running down her cheeks, "They have to stop. They'll kill her."

Reed screamed again, and this time it was James who broke down in loud sobs. They could hear the woman yelling again, she was asking questions about them now.

"Who else is a mudblood?"

"N-no one." Reed cried loudly, "Only me."

"I don't believe you." The woman said marching over to the tent, although the others couldn't see her do it.

"Please don't hurt them!" Reed cried, "I made them come with me! Please don't hurt them."

The woman threw open the tent flap, and Sirius gasped in surprise when he saw the woman, "Bella!" He yelled.

The woman sneered down at him, "Well would you look at that. A cretin who's been blasted off of the family tree. I should kill you just for tarnishing the family name."

"Please don't!" Ruby yelled quickly without even thinking about it.

"Don't you dare talk to me unless you are spoken to!" Bellatrix yelled, "Who is she Sirius, your girlfriend?"

"No." Sirius said stone-faced, "She isn't. I only met her today."

"It's too bad you were always such a bad liar." Bellatrix laughed. It was a horrible sound, it made the hairs on Ruby's neck stand up, it made the little warning signals in her head go off telling her that she needed to get out of there as fast as she could, "I think I'll take her then." Bellatrix blasted off the chain holding Ruby to the ground, and started to drag her off by her hair.

"Don't touch her you evil bitch!" Sirius yelled, "Leave her alone!"

"I thought you only met her today?" Bellatrix smiled, laughing as she walked back out of the tent.

Ruby was chained up to a stake next to Reed. Ruby cried out when she saw her. She was limp, the only thing keeping her upright were the chains wrapped around her body. Her eyes seemed glassed over, and her face and arms were bleeding.

"R-Reed, are you okay?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Go get the boy with the long black hair and tie him to a stake. I want him tortured until he talks, and when he doesn't leave him for me to kill."

The ugly Death eater who had taken Reed off originally nodded, went back to the tent and grabbed Sirius.

"They won't hurt you Ruby. I swear. Just wait, I'll help. Just wait." Sirius said franticly as the Death Eater carried him by the stake Ruby was tied to. He carried him off to another part of the camp that Ruby couldn't see over the tents. She could see the top of the stake though, and that gave her a miniscule amount of comfort.

"To bad for you, it'll never happen, Cruccio!" Bellatrix yelled pointing her knobby wand at Ruby's stomach. When the curse was over Ruby yelled.

"You're supposed to interrogate me first you bitch!"

"Shut your ugly trap!" Bellatrix screamed as she hit her again with the Cruciatus curse.

"Ruby!" Sirius was yelling from somewhere behind the tents, he screamed too, and soon they couldn't even hear the others screams over their own.

Once Ruby had gone limp Bellatrix frowned, she had expected this one to last a little longer, no matter, she would just get another one to torture, there were three left.

"Burgess!" Bellatrix snapped at another Death Eater who was watching the whole thing with a sick fascination, "Take the blond girl. Do whatever you want with her, but kill her when you're done."

Reed, who had slowly been coming to her senses let new tears roll down her cheeks. When Burgess had thrown her over his shoulder, she smiled weakly when they passed Ruby.

"I'm so sorry." Reed whispered as she passed.

Ruby's bottom lip began to tremble and she let out new sobs, making Bellatrix interested again. Since her victim was awake, and able to feel pain, why not hurt them more? It was more fun that way. So Bellatrix pointed her black ugly wand at Ruby again and let the curse fly. Reed's feet were the last thing Ruby could see before the curse had her vision obscured again.

"They killed her…" Lily gasped sobbing, "They're killing her! Leave her alone! Let her go! She's a pureblood I swear! Take me instead please!" Lily yelled as loud as she could, but it was useless since her yells were masked with the yells of Sirius, Ruby, and Reed.

Remus was still laying on the floor, his eyes were looking at nothing, clouded over. His lips were set in a firm straight line. He looked dead. He could have been if James couldn't see his rising chest.

It was over. They were all dead. The professors probably hadn't even thought of looking outside for them. They were going to die, and it was his entire fault. If he hadn't even said anything in the first place, if he had just stayed in detention!

James closed his eyes and waited for the next round of screams. He didn't hear anything actually. The silence was eerie really. Even Lily had stopped crying to listen. Then the yells started. There were more then three, the ones that had been coming from Ruby, Sirius, and Reed earlier.

These were adults yelling. Adults yelling spells, hexes, and curses at each other. James didn't recognize any of the voices though. None of them were familiar except for that of Bellatrix's and the Death Eater that had taken Reed away.

Finally he could hear the familiar popping sound. There were at least seven of them, which meant that whoever had invaded the camp was driving the Death Eaters away. His heart started beating faster, for once that whole night he was hopeful that they would all get out of this. Even if some of them had died to do it.

When the tent flap burst open in an angry gust of wind and McGonagall's face appeared in it, James had never felt so happy in his life. Lily seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she started sobbing again, only this time they were sobs of joy. Remus however still just laid there, his eyes had lost their faraway look though.

"We need to get you children out of here now!" McGonagall hissed at them. She pointed her wand at the chains, "Confringo." And one by one the locks keeping the chains held together exploded, the chains falling off of them, "Quickly now, get up," When they took their time she waved her hand, "Quickly!" she hissed.

The three piled out of the tent, just in time to see Dumbledore taking the chains off of Reed's body. They watched as she fell into his arms, and she hung in his arms, limply, her arms swinging as he carried her.

Ruby was already down from her stake, being supported by Professor Sprout. She was whispering calming things in her ear, trying to get her to stop shaking, "Oh you poor dear." Professor Sprout was saying over and over again.

Sirius rounded the corner then with Madam Hooch. She was helping him walk too. Although he still had the carefree look on his face that he had had when they had gotten to the Death Eaters camp. His face would twitch in pain every now and then, but that was it.

"What in Merlin's name were you thinking!" McGonagall yelled as she had gotten the conscious ones in a circle, ready to go, "You could have been killed! Do you know the severity of what you have done!" she hissed angrily.

"It was my fault Professor," James said at once after she had stopped yelling, "I'm the one who went, they all followed on my lead."

McGonagall looked happy that he had owned up to his mistake, but her expression had gone right back to anger, "I hope you realize what you have done Mr. Potter. Your sister is in a critical condition, your best friend is going to need weeks of treatment, and Ms. Taylor may have to go through months of therapy."

Dumbledore raised one of his hands, he looked at James with a pitying look. It was more condescending then anything really. But James deserved it, he looked down at the ground again, not able to look him in the eye.

"Minerva, you can yell at Mr. Potter all you want, but right now I think it is most prudent to get back to the castle first." Dumbledore lifted his arms to remind them of the lifeless body that was hanging in them, "I'm sure Mr. Black, and Ms. Taylor would love a hot bath and a warm bed as well."

McGonagall gave James one last angry look, but she sighed and nodded gravely, "You're absolutely correct Albus. Our first duty is to get the children to safety."

"Then you can punish them all you want." Madame Hooch said, thinking that she would also love to run them around the Quidditch pitch a few times herself.

"Poor dears," Professor Sprout continued saying, over and over, "Should get them to Poppy as soon as we can."

And with Professor Sprout's last and final word, the six teens were taken by side apperation back to the castle to be mended, and then punished.

* * *

Mmm… I'm not sure what that was. It wasn't even what I had intended for this chapter, but I think my fingers had a life of their own and they just typed for me and my brain was on auto pilot lol.

Reviews are loved

!


	14. Let it be

I kind of hate writing chapters like this chapter... you'll see what I mean, but I can't tell you because then I'd give it away... Anyways, this is chapter 14 of falling! I'm surprised it got so far actually... well I hope you like/hate (in a good way of course) this chapter! Please review! The more reviews I get the less time it will take me to upload, I have a ton of stuff I should be doing over this, but reviews make me happy, I will have to put the other priorities ahead of this one which means a chapter every 3 or 4 weeks... I feel like I'm bribing you guys... ORZ

* * *

Chapter 14: Let it be

The bell on the bookshop door rung loudly as a woman entered the bookshop. A woman, around the age of thirty, with deep olive colored skin, and dark brown eyes entered the shop, her robes drawn around her tightly. She walked up to the desk. No one was there. Making a sweeping motion with her arm, the small swinging door that read employees only swung open revealing a sort of office.

The woman sat down in the chair that was sitting behind the desk. Waiting for her quarry, she took her time and looked around the small office. There was a cork board hanging on one wall, pictures of teenaged kids on it. The three people to show up most often on the board was a blond headed girl with bright blue eyes, a black haired girl who looked around 25 with bright blue eyes mirroring the blond headed girls, and a black haired boy, also with blue eyes. Her children.

The dark skinned woman leaned back in the plush chair. This was getting annoying. The shop didn't say it was closed, so why wasn't she here? This was supposed to be a rather effortless job, and she was making it harder then it had to be. When at last she heard the woman's humming getting louder and louder as she heard each of her footsteps hit the floor.

The red-haired woman was startled when she saw the dark-skinned one in her office, sitting in her chair, she nearly dropped the books she was carrying, "Can I help you?" she asked confused.

"Actually you can. Are you Mrs. Potter?" the other woman asked.

"…Yes I am. May I ask who you are?" She asked as she placed the books she was holding on her desk slowly.

"It won't matter in a second, but if you want to know, I guess you have the right to. I'm Marcella Corleone."

"Well Marcella Corleone. How may I help you?"

Marcella smiled, her thin lips set into an odd line, and her dark eyes narrowed, not happily like they would if her cheekbones were set in a real smile, but they narrowed into small brown slits, "You can't." There was a flash of green light and Lily screamed.

"Lily? Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she leaned over her infirmary bed to look at Lily who had fallen asleep in one of the arm chairs.

"What?" Lily asked quickly coming out of her sleep, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You were screaming in your sleep…" Ruby said raising her eyebrows.

"I…I just had a bad dream."

"Wanna talk about it?" Ruby asked resting her chin in her hands; it was dark in the room, almost pitch black.

"No, go back to sleep." Lily said grumpily.

"Go back to bed?" Reed asked from across the room, "Every single time I wake up, some one says that. Go back to bed. How much sleep does one person need? I've slept for almost thirty hours. I've had enough sleep."

"That makes two of us." Sirius said from the bed beside Ruby.

"Go back to bed Sirius," Lily groaned as she turned around in the elongated arm chair and closed her eyes, trying to sleep.

"Why is it that whenever something happens," Ruby started, "It's always Reedy and I who get hurt?"

"I got hurt too!" Sirius yelled indignantly.

"Yeah, but that was your own fault! You even _asked_ to be tortured!" Reed laughed.

"I didn't ask, I merely suggested that they take me instead of the two of you."

"If you don't shut up padfoot," came another sleepy voice, "I think I may kill you myself."

"Remus…" Reed smiled, though no one could see it in the dark.

Reed let her hand fall off the side of the bed, she swung it back and forth until finally, she could feel Remus's own, slightly colder hand wrap gently, but firmly around hers. She giggled a little bit and turned to look at him in the dark, she could only make out his basic body shape, but he was here, and that was enough.

"You should go up to your bed," Reed whispered, "It has to be very uncomfortable in that arm chair."

"Are you saying you want me to leave?" Remus asked playfully.

"Never," Reed said bringing her hand, which his was wrapped around up to her lips. She kissed it softly and held his hand by her cheek, "I don't want you to ever leave."

Remus sighed, he was completely enamored with this girl, he could never refuse her. Not anymore, it would take all he had to even leave her be for a couple of hours during the full moon every month.

"I won't leave you until you tell me too." Remus said smiling in the darkness.

"God, would you two shut up, you make me want to vomit." Ruby said making choking noises; Reed could see her shoving a mimicking finger down her throat.

"Wait," Sirius said, "I say cute things like that to you all the time! Does that mean you want to vomit every time I say them?"

Ruby, Reed, and Lily laughed, Remus sighed with annoyance.

"James!" Reed shouted the next morning as she saw him in the hallway, walking to his next class. He turned slightly so he could look at her, and then Reed saw the girl.

The girl had been walking with him the whole time, Reed just hadn't been able to see her since James was blocking her out of view. She was pretty, actually she was stunning. She had long Black shiny hair that was pulled up into a messy pony-tail that day, bright clear blue eyes, and a very light splash of cream colored freckles that littered the bridge of her nose and some of her cheeks.

"Oh… I, am I interrupting something?" Reed asked as she walked the last few feet over to the two of them, "I can talk to you another time if I am," Reed said looking straight at James.

James bit his bottom lip nervously; he looked down at the floor. He opened his mouth to say something, and then he closed it without saying a thing. He looked back up at Reed, his face looked anguished. His eyebrows were pulled into a tight furrow, his frown was deep, and his eyes seemed to be troubled.

"James…" Reed repeated, what was wrong with him?

"You know, I can go…" The girl, Rowena Burwell said awkwardly, she felt like a third wheel, "Talk to your sister James, I'll see you in class anyways." Rowena stared to walk off, but James grabbed her arm gently.

"No, I'm coming with you, I can't talk right now Reed, I'll see you later." And with a last frown, James walked away with Rowena leaving Reed standing alone in the hallway.

The door to the potion's room slammed shut with a loud bang. Lily was to afraid to see who had been angry enough to slam the old oak door which took effort to even shut well because it was so heavy, and it scrapped against the cobblestone floor. Ruby, curiosity taking her over, set down the clear glass vile that was holding suspicious looking blue liquid that looked carbonated, and looked behind her. She laughed immediately after turning her head.

Lily couldn't help it she, as well as half of the class, turned their heads to look at who had just come stomping through the door. There were snickers when they saw Reed, red faced and frowning. Lily just sighed; her shoulders slumped at the knowing that something bad had happened. There didn't seem like a day that went by without something bad happening to one of the six of them.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked as she to laughed, "You look like you just stuck your head in a pan of red paint."

"James just totally ignored me in the hallway! I called his name and he stopped, and when I tried to talk to him, he didn't say a thing, so Rowena said that she would leave because the tension was so thick not even a snitch could zip through it."

"Wait," Lily said interrupting Reed, "Who was with him?"

"Rowena Burwell, that Ravenclaw sixth year. Anyways, so she went to walk off and James stopped her, and told her she didn't have to leave, because he was coming with her, and that he didn't have time to talk to me."

"You're joking!" Ruby said looking absolutely aghast. She started chuckling not believing what she had just heard.

"I am most certainly not joking! So then she smiled smugly and walked off with him!"

Lily narrowed her eyes and turned away to add what she had to into the potion. She didn't want to hear anymore of this Rowena girl. She scoffed, why should she matter to her anyways? It wasn't like hearing about her and James made her mad or anything. As far as she was concerned, she was still pissed at James for getting them caught three days ago in the woods.

"And then she wrapped her arm around his and looked up at him with the most gooey face I'd ever seen." Reed snapped, throwing her bag on the floor as she slipped on gloves.

"Really?" Ruby asked giving Lily a side-ways glance, "Do tell me more."

"She even calls him by his first name, and when I saw them walk into the classroom, he held the door open for her and everything!"

The glass vile in Lily's hands suddenly shattered into thing slivers, falling unto the floor. Reed and Ruby stopped talking to look at her. She wasn't really paying attention; she was watching the liquid eat through her gloves. Reed's eyes widened when the gloves started to smoke, and it was apparent the liquid had eaten through them.

"Lily… doesn't that burn?" Ruby asked looking at the smoking gloves.

"Wha-?" Lily looked down at her hands, and once she saw them smoking she gasped and dropped what little bit of vile she had left in her hand, she screeched in pain as she finally felt the full affect of the burning liquid.

"Lily!" Reed yelled, "Are you okay?"

"Aguamenti!" Ruby yelled pointing her wand at Lily's burning hand, water exploded from the tip of Ruby's wand and hit Lily's hand.

"It's not helping!" Lily yelled waving her hand trying to cool it off.

"Professor Slughorn! Lily got burnt; can we take her to the infirmary please?" Reed shouted as Ruby blew on Lily's hand.

"Go on then, take her to the infirmary." Slughorn sighed waving the three girls off.

Ruby, Reed, and Lily ran through the dingy dungeons, tripping on the cobblestone every now and then, but eventually they had gotten to the infirmary just in time, and Madame Pomfrey was all to happy to bandage Lily's hand up for her.

Once the three girls had been taken care of, Poppy sent them on their way back to class. The three of them got onto a staircase, deciding to take the long way back to the dungeons. If they were lucky they would get back with only five more minutes left of class.

"I think," Ruby said sighing, "We should stay away from anything that has even the most remote chance of being dangerous."

"Well then," Reed said laughing, "I guess you and Sirius will have to stop your middle of the night rendezvous."

Ruby went red and her eyes widened, "How did you… who told you!" She demanded.

"No one had to tell us, we could hear the two of you." Lily said cringing.

Ruby's eyes, if possible widened even more. She coughed and composed herself, "Well it doesn't matter," She said smoothing out her skirt, "Because there is no danger in having a little fun."

"There's danger of pregnancy." Lily said tiresomely.

"There's STD's too!" Reed yelled a little too loudly, some of the pictured people stopped whatever it was they were doing and looked at the three passing girls, "Sorry." Reed mumbled.

"Well, it's not like we're the only ones." Ruby said looking down at Reed.

"W-What?" Reed asked, looking shocked.

"You didn't!" Lily laughed excitedly, "You did, didn't you! Oh my Merlin! I can't believe Remus would even take his clothes off!"

"We didn't!" Reed yelled, her face was a perfect imitation of a cherry, "I mean…we haven't even…"

"No!" Ruby giggled furiously, "You mean you've only ever kissed?"

"Sorry I'm not a slut like you!" Reed huffed indignantly, "But it's not like I'm the only one, Lily's never even kissed a boy!"

"I have to!" Lily yelled, and suddenly the three girls burst out laughing. They were laughing so hard their eyes were watering, and Ruby was even clutching her sides, wrinkling her robes.

"Girls!" Came a loud and intimidating voice. The type of voice that made hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Ruby, Lily, and Reed looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing in front of them. Her hands on her emerald robed hips. Her pink lips were set into an angry, but somewhat saddened frown, even though her voice had sounded enraged, her eyes seemed tired.

"I need you Ms. Potter, in my office immediately."

Reed nodded slowly, and looked back at Ruby and Lily for help. They nodded like her and started to walk with her. McGonagall gave them a look that seemed to say, stay here if you know what's good for you, but when they pleaded with their expressions, she sighed and waved for them to follow them.

Reed swallowed slowly, her mouth was getting dry. She had this odd feeling and she wasn't exactly sure what it was. It made her nervous though; it made the butterflies in her stomach act up and made it ach. It made her think of something bad. Finally the three girls and McGonagall rounded a corner and came to her room.

Reed could see James sitting in one of the chairs that were placed in front of McGonagall's desk; his back was facing the three. He was fidgeting wildly, no doubt wondering what was taking McGonagall so long to get Reed and come back. He wanted to know what was happening just as much as she did.

"If you could wait out here girls, I'm sure Ms. Potter will be out to see you very soon." And with that, McGonagall led Reed into her office, and shut the solid oak door with a loud thud that echoed through the hallways.

Ruby and Lily took seats on the wooden bench that was attached to the wall right across from McGonagall's door. Ruby started chewing her bottom lip, a bad habit she had acquired when she became nervous. Lily just started to tap her foot as fast as she could.

"Do you think she's punishing them more for what happened?" Ruby asked looking at Lily uncertainly.

"If she was, then why would she take Reed too? She would only be punishing James. He's the only one who deserves it." Lily muttered angrily.

Without warning a loud half sob, half cry of pain was heard. It was muffled through the thick door, but the girls could tell something was wrong. Again, the half sob, half shout came again, and they could hear McGonagall fussing over someone, telling them something.

Suddenly, the door sprang open. Lily and Ruby jumped out of surprise. They saw James in the doorway. He looked at them for a split second, and without even saying a word, he sped off down the hallway.

"W-What is going on?" Ruby asked looking at Lily.

Lily shrugged, she had no idea, the two girls turned to the door then, and peeked inside McGonagall's office. They had no idea what was going on, and from what they saw, they weren't given any clue.

Reed was crumpled on the floor, her hands covering her eyes, which no doubt had tears pouring out of them. Her shoulders were shaking, but McGonagall was on the floor with her, whispering soothing, calming things into her ear. When she saw Lily and Ruby standing at the door, she frowned a sad frown, waved her wand, and shut the door.

And without even knowing what had gone on in the office, or what was said for sure. Lily was positive that something bad had happened to the Potters.

* * *

Um... yeah. Haha. So there you have it. I'm sure you know by now what's happened, but the next chapter will clear it up if you don't know yet.

Thank you so much for reading!

Don't forget to click the button down there that says review!

:D


	15. Collide

Chapter 15: Collide

Lily stared at her blond haired friend through the gray light of the morning. It was just barely five, but the 16 year-old girl was wide awake, starring at the ceiling, a deep set frown on her face. It had been there for three days, and Lily wasn't sure if it would ever go away. Lily closed her eyes quickly when Reed glanced over at her.

"I know you've been watching me. Its okay, but I really wish you guys would stop following me around. It's not like I'm going to Avada Kedavra myself when you guys aren't watching."

Lily was thankful no one else was up to hear that, "We're just…worried about you." Lily said choosing her words wisely, telling her that they had all decided to put her and James both on a make-shift suicide watch probably wasn't the right thing to say at a time like this.

"It's okay. Really, we'll be home later today, and then we have the funeral. It'll be okay…" Reed muttered, yawning.

"Right…well at least you guys still have June…" Lily regretted saying it the second it came out of her mouth.

But like always, Reed never took it personally, "Yeah," She said putting a small smile on her face, "At least we have June." And you could tell she was thankful for that.

"You should go back to bed; we only have three more hours until we have to be in McGonagall's office."

Reed nodded and looked back up at the ceiling, "Yeah. Okay."

Lily knew, that just like her, Reed probably wouldn't be sleeping anymore until that night. She hated thinking about what they were going to do later that day. It was hard enough for her; she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for the three of the Potter children, having to bury both of their parents. Turning over, Lily shut her eyes and tried not to think of it, she didn't have much luck.

When at last the three hours had passed, and the kids were standing in McGonagall's office, waiting for her to put them through the floo network, they were feeling like nothing worse could happen to them.

Reed was standing away from everyone, her arms warped around her waist, like she was trying to hold herself together. James and Sirius were standing close together, Sirius saying something to James that Lily couldn't hear. Ruby was standing with Lily, unsure of what really was happening. And Remus, poor Remus wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to be doing. He was standing as near to Reed as he thought she would allow without shutting down, but it was obvious he wanted to do so much more for her.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" McGonagall said bursting through the wooden doors of her office, "There were kids in the hallway doing things they shouldn't have been…" McGonagall trailed off.

"We understand, you had to go play teacher," Reed said, "It's not like we're in a big hurry anyways."

Everyone else in the room turned to Reed, surprised she had said something so sarcastically about what was going on. Lily shifted uncomfortably, looking at James's shocked expression, she really wasn't sure what was about to happen.

"Reed…" James almost sighed her name; it was more of a pitying tone then anything.

"Oh, don't you Reed me!" Reed yelled, "You've been ignoring me for the past four days! Last time I tried to talk to you, you blew me off for that…that slut!" Reed yelled unsure of what horrible thing to call Rowena.

"Reed!" James yelled, "It wasn't like that!" He did seem earnest in what he was saying, but Reed wouldn't listen to him, instead she marched right up to him, and threw her fist at his face, which connected with a loud, satisfying smack.

"I think we should leave, we don't want to be late for the…" Ruby trailed off, should she say funeral, or was everyone already thinking it anyways?

"Right…" McGonagall picked up a small terra cotta pot from her desk and grabbed a handful of the powder in it; she threw it into the fireplace flames, and watched as they turned green, "Three of you can go at a time."

Remus stepped into the fire, Reed followed him, and so did Lily, and with that, Remus said the name of where they were going, and they went off on their less then merry way. After they had gone, Ruby, Sirius, and James, who was holding his hurting nose, stepped into the fire, and they too left in a poof of smoke and a flare of fire.

"We are here to celebrate and mourn the lives and deaths of Nathanial James Potter, and Allison Hyacinth Potter, children, siblings, and parents…"

Reed, Lily, and Ruby were standing, huddled beside each other trying to stay warm in the chilly, cutting wind. All three girls were dressed in similar styles of black dresses. The boys were standing in a group, wearing, like the girls, similar styles of black suits.

"I hate how he talks like he knows them so well," Reed sighed, "They should let family members do this part so it actually means something."

"It's okay Reed," Lily said grabbing Reed's hand in her own, squeezing gently, "It'll be over soon."

"Right," Reed said frowning at the cold, wet ground, "Almost over."

Remus looked over to Reed, frowning slightly. He put his hand out slowly, not sure if he should grab hers or not. Sighing, he put his arm back down close to his side and stared straight forward as they started calling forth family members to speak on behalf of the Potter's.

Lily looked over at James; his eyes were downcast to the frozen ground. He didn't even move to say something about his parents, neither did Reed. They opted to let June, the oldest of the three to go ahead and speak on their behalf. Reed because she would have broken down and sobbed before she could get out a coherent word and James because he was angry with the world at the moment, and he didn't care about any of the other people here.

And finally it was time to lower the casket. June, standing on the side of the two person large lot in the wizarding cemetery flicked her wand, the jet black coffins slowly lowering into the grave.

Reed glanced over at Remus. In a swift motion she reached out and took his hand in hers. Either from the cold or the comfort Remus didn't know, but he squeezed her hand gently and held it steadfast in his own. What seemed like four hours had actually taken less then half of that, and soon the teenagers and June were alone standing by the graves.

"This isn't fair." Sirius mumbled to no one in particular.

James looked at him, an undecipherable look on his face, "Life isn't fair."

"This day has been miserable." Sirius said as he lay down on the floor of the Potter's living room.

"How are you hands Reed?" Ruby asked looking at her knuckles, inquiring about the wallop she let loose on James earlier that day.

"What?" Reed looked down, "Oh, no their fine."

"What about your hands Lily, you burnt them before we left didn't you?" James asked looking at Lily's still bandaged hands.

"They're getting better, thanks for asking." She said quietly.

"I…I'm going to bed." Reed said quickly standing up, Ruby and Lily started to lift themselves up off the floor to follow her, "No, you guys can stay up… I'll be fine, I'm just going to bed." And with that, Reed was off, taking the stairs two at a time.

"I… I think I'm going to follow her." Remus said after minutes of silence.

"That would be a good idea." Ruby said patting his hand as he got up to leave them.

"I think I'm going to bed too." Ruby said, she looked at Sirius.

"Oh, yeah. I'm tired, so I'll see you in the morning James." Sirius stood up, and followed Ruby to the guest room that she and Lily were occupying at the current time, leaving James and Lily alone in the living room, June had gone to work earlier to get some things sorted out, so they were the only ones left in the house.

"James…I'm… I'm so sorry." Lily said reaching across the living room floor to put her hand on his.

James looked up at her with his sad, blue eyes, and for some reason, unbeknownst to Lily, her heart stopped. Looking straight into James's eyes made her sick with worry, sick with compassion. This wasn't like it was when they were at school, James was such an idiot there, but when they were here, right now, he was so… she didn't know. All Lily was sure of at the moment was that James was staring at her with a longing so deep, so strong, and she knew her eyes were matching his.

No force in the world could stop them now, no force was as strong as the intense need that was pulling the two together, and she was crawling closer to him, and he was gripping her hand harder. Lily licked her dry lips before she reached him, and in one last insane pull, she grabbed his arm, pulled him closer, and suddenly the two of them were kissing.

And, oh, he was kissing her like she had never been kissed before. It was all she could do not to cry out in joy at the pure goodness of it all. She wrapped her hands in his black shaggy hair, and pulled him closer to her. He broke off from her lips, and the two starred at each other for a few seconds before he started trailing kisses down her neck, over her shoulders, around her breast bone.

"Lily…" James murmured into her red hair as he started kissing her neck again, "Lily, Lily, Lily," He kept repeating her name, and she was so happy, so happy that he was thinking about her, and not about that girl he had been hanging around recently.

Lily's eyes snapped open, and she suddenly realized something, she wasn't letting him kiss her because she was sad for him, she was letting him kiss her because she was jealous, jealous of that girl. Jealous because she thought that she would take him away from her, and without warning Lily pushed James off of her even though her body was screaming for her to drag him back. But the realization of what she had just grasped was too much for her.

"I… I'm sorry James." And with that Lily stood up and walked out of the room, wiping the tears that were slowly falling from her eyes, leaving James sitting in the living room, alone and confused.

Lily ran up the stairs, wanting to get into Reed's room, wanting to talk to her and Ruby about what had just happened. She knocked on Reed's door quietly, and when she didn't hear anyone say anything from behind the door, she pushed it open gently.

She blushed when she saw Reed and Remus. They weren't making out or anything, but Reed was sobbing, and Remus was sitting there with her on the floor, just holding her. His hands were entangled in her curly blond hair, and she had her face buried in his neck and his hair.

In fact, it seemed that Reed's absolute depression affected Remus more then anyone would have understood, not only was Reed sobbing, but Lily could see the tears falling down Remus's cheeks as well, it was a little much for her to take. She couldn't stand seeing them like that, so unhappy, yet glorying in the fact that they had each other.

Lily backed out of the room as quietly as she had walked in, and with a small smile from Remus, whom had looked up and seen her, she closed the door as silently as she could and left the two of them alone, the way they should be.

Lily ventured down the hallway then, it was obvious that Ruby had to have been in the guest room now since she wasn't in Reed's room. When she opened the guest room door, she saw Ruby and Sirius sitting in their pajamas with the bed side lamp on, playing the wizarding version of go fish, whenever you guessed wrong, you got a paper-cut. She really didn't see the fun in it, but Ruby and Sirius were laughing, nearly crying, with the fun they were having.

Ruby looked up and caught sight of Lily, "Lily! Do you want to play with us?" Ruby asked as she held up another deck of cards.

Lily winced, she hated paper-cuts, and the last time she had played with them, she had at least twelve of them, "No, I'm just going to go to bed."

"Oh, I'll leave then." Sirius said starting to get up.

"No it's okay, you guys keep playing." Lily waved and shut the door behind her; she walked down the hallway a little bit more until she reached the last door there.

It was Allison and Nate's bedroom. James's parents. Well, she couldn't very well sleep in there, could she? But it wasn't like she could interrupt Reed and Remus, or throw Sirius out of the guest bedroom when he and Ruby were having so much fun, and she'd be damned if she was going to sleep in James's bedroom.

Lily cracked the bedroom door open a little bit and peered inside. It looked like no one had even slept in there. The floor was ridden of any clothes or other things that her room at home was always scattered with, the bed was made to perfection, and there wasn't a single glass or anything from downstairs. Lily sighed, still conflicted with whether it was moral or not to sleep in dead people's beds when you weren't even related to them.

It was too late now though. Lily slipped into the bedroom, closed the door behind her with a small click, padded over to the bed, and slipped under the covers of the Potter's bed. Even with her conflicted self, Lily was asleep in minutes.

Um…. Short chapter is short. I posted this like a week earlier then I thought I was going to because I realized something. As much as more reviews would be awesome, I'm not going to punish the readers who actually review and like this story because no one else is reviewing… ugh I'm a softie ^^;

Anyways right at this very second I'm debating whether I want to post another chapter (because I want to start on another fic I have planed but I'm not going to start until this is finished) Or if I want to go watch an episode of Torchwood…. Choices choices.


	16. Saturday Morning

Chapter 16: Saturday Morning

The next morning, after June had gotten home, all of the teens were sitting at the table with her, eating breakfast. The mood was somber, and no one really wanted to say anything in case it was the wrong thing to say.

"So…" June began rummaging through her robes, "This came for you today Sirius, it's from your cousin Andromeda." June took out a yellowed envelope and passed it to Sirius, he opened it, and after it seemed like he had read it, he groaned.

"What is it?" Ruby asked leaning over trying to read it.

"She wants me to baby-sit since I'm home for the weekend."

"Baby-sit?" Reed asked perking up a little bit; she was fond of young children.

"Yeah, I'll be back later tonight; I guess I should help her out, seeing as how she's the only nice relative I have."

"We'll go with you," Reed said quickly grabbing the envelope out of Sirius's hands, "Nymphadora. That's unique." Reed passed the envelope back to Sirius and put everyone's dishes in the sink.

"Well if you want to sentence yourself to hell, you are more then welcome to come with me."

"Hell?" Remus laughed, "She's a little girl, she can't be that bad."

"You've never met Dora, she's a little hellion." Sirius sighed.

"We'll all go." Lily said finally volunteering herself, Ruby, James, and Remus to baby-sit with him and Reed.

"It's a party then!" Sirius said clapping his hands together happy that he wouldn't be subjected to the three year old girl by himself.

"You guys should get going then; you only have an hour before you have to be there." June said as she pointed to the fireplace that had a jar of floo powder on the mantle.

"I hate the Floo network…" Reed grumbled.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner you can clean yourself off." Sirius said as he grabbed a handful of the powder and stepped into the fireplace, "Come on now," He said motioning to the empty space left in the fireplace.

Reed and Ruby stepped through, leaving Lily, Remus, and James to follow after them. Reed closed her eyes as Sirius shouted wherever they were going and she could feel the same odd tingling sensation she got when the green flames licked around their legs and bodies. And then it stopped, letting her know that they were there. Wherever there might happen to be.

"So, you brought friends with you?" Came a warm female voice, "Well I suppose I couldn't blame you, she is quite a handful."

Reed opened her eyes to what she was expecting to be Sirius's cousin Andromeda. Instead she saw her. The woman who had tortured Ruby and her almost into insanity.

Reed gasped a little, "What are you doing here!" She yelled angrily.

"Well, it is my house." The woman said narrowing her eyes.

Sirius began to laugh, "The resemblance is uncanny isn't it Reedy? This isn't the woman who tortured Ruby and you. This is Andromeda, her sister."

Andromeda scoffed, "I see Bella has been busy," Then in a quieter voice they could hear her mumble, "Poor girls."

"So where is the little demon anyways?" Sirius asked as he looked around the living room, only to see there was no toddler.

"She's upstairs terrorizing her father as we speak," She paused as the fireplace lit up with green flames and Remus, Lily, and James fell into the living room, "We really must be going, so I'll let you guys take it from here. Ted! Bring Nymphadora down please!" Andromeda called upstairs.

A minute or so later, a cheerfully robust man came down the stairs with a small girl in his arms. She looked to be around two or three. She had long bubblegum pink hair, and her eyes were a weird shade of purple. Everyone other then Sirius and James looked at her like she was an oddity.

"Dora is a metamorphamgus," Sirius explained, "Pink hair and purple eyes have been her favorite combination recently."

"She's adorable." Reed gushed after her initial shock had passed.

"Adorable, that's a new way of putting it," Andromeda said as she slipped on her coat, "We'll see you later Nymphadora, be good for Sirius." She placed a soft kiss on her daughter's cheek; you kissed her, sloppily, back.

"If you need us, don't hesitate to send a message to the ministry." And with that Ted and Andromeda Tonks were out of the door.

"So…" Lily said looking at Nymphadora, whom was sitting on the floor, looking at the six of them curiously, "What do we do now?"

Nymphadora looked up at them, and the weirdest look came over her face. Sirius groaned, "You'll know in a second." And not even a second after he had said it, the little girl had burst into tears, crawling over to the door, wailing.

"Mummy!" She cried trying to stretch out and grab the doorknob, "Daddy!" She wailed, the sound of it was almost unbearably high pitched.

Remus was the first to make an attempt to calm the little girl, he had gotten down on his knees so he was on her level, "Nymphadora, mummy and daddy will be home later, but for now…" And that was all he got out.

The little girl's hair turned a fiery shade of red, and she balled up one fist and hit him in the face as hard as a three year old could. Remus recoiled holding his face.

"No!" Nymphadora yelled as she went to hit him again, but Sirius had picked her up.

"We don't hit our guest Nymphadora." Sirius said trying to be serious, but he couldn't help but letting out a small laugh at Remus.

"No! Let me down!" Nymphadora yelled again, and when Sirius didn't let her down fast enough, she grabbed his arm, and bit him.

"Ouch! Why you little!" Sirius said putting her on the floor a little more roughly then what was called for.

"Sirius!" Lily said as she rushed over to the pink-haired toddler, "He's a meanie isn't he?" Lily asked getting down on her knees to look her in the face.

"Get away from me." Nymphadora said narrowing her eyes.

Lily was taken aback, and with a haughty huff, she stood back up and stomped off to the couch, where she sat with her arms crossed over her chest, "Fine, I won't play with you then."

Ruby was the next one to try, "I'm Sirius's girlfriend, do you want to get away from the door and come sit with us?" Ruby asked, smiling.

"No. You're icky."

Ruby's face went blank, and then her eyes narrowed, "You listen here you little…" But James was already pulling her away, certain that he would have a better chance since he had baby-sat her with Sirius before.

"Do you remember me?" James asked, "My name is James."

"James." Nymphadora repeated.

"Yeah," James said, putting a smile on his face, "That's right."

"You're ugly too." She said tripping over the word ugly a little bit.

"That's it, Sirius; you deal with this little brat." James said louder then he should have, Nymphadora started wailing again.

"You guys are horrible with children." Reed huffed as she swooped Nymphadora off of the floor and bounced her up and down. When she had stopped crying, Reed held her out a little bit and smiled at her, "My name is Reed, what's your name?"

"We already know her name." James muttered.

"Ny...Nympha… Tonks." Nymphadora said at last, smiling a little bit.

"Tonks? That's a pretty name," Reed smiled, "What do you want to do Tonks?"

Nymphadora thought about it for a second, before she declared with great enthusiasm, "Let's play dress up!"

"Merlin," Sirius sighed as he pushed himself up off the couch, "Dress up it is." He started to follow Nymphadora and Reed up the stairs, but Nymphadora, who was hand in hand with Reed, leading the way stopped him.

"No." She said holding out her hand, "Only Ree." She said, not saying Reed's full name.

"Fine, only Ree." Sirius muttered going to sit back down on the couch.

Nymphadora led Reed up the stairs, and then into a bedroom with her name painted in purple on the door. She smiled back up at Reed, and with a very triumphant yell, she proclaimed, "My room!"

"And a very pretty room it is!" Reed gushed looking at the yellow walls, and the daisies painted on them.

Nymphadora ran over to the closet, opened it and threw out a pair of big owl wings that looked like they had been apart of a costume. Next came a pair of red high heels that looked like she had stolen them from her mother's closet, a set of play robes, a play broomstick, and fake wands.

"Dress!" Nymphadora yelled.

"In what?" Reed asked smiling.

Nymphadora grabbed the owl wings and tried to stick them to Reed's back. She slipped the wings on over her shoulders, "Like this?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Nymphadora said clapping her hands together and smiling, "This too!" She said making Reed put on the red high heels, "And this!" She said giving Reed the broomstick.

"What are you going to wear?" Reed asked looking at her.

"This!" Nymphadora said pulling on the dress robes with Reed's help, and then grabbing one of the fake wands.

After she had pulled the robes on, she grabbed Reed's hand and started to pull her downstairs. When they had gotten into the living room, everyone looked at Reed a little weirdly.

"You look like Dizzy." James said, referring to his pet owl.

"Shut up." Reed hissed.

"Play!" Nymphadora yelled happily.

"What do you want to play?" Reed asked.

"Witches!" Nymphadora exclaimed.

"Okay. Who should be the bad guy?" Reed asked.

Nymphadora ran to the couch and pulled on Sirius's sleeve, "Siri! Siri is the bad guy!"

"Why is it always me?" He grumbled getting off of the couch.

"What about the good boy?" Reed asked.

Nymphadora looked from Remus to James before finally choosing Remus, Reed asked her who the witch who needed saving would be, she chose Lily, leaving James as her unicorn, and Ruby as an evil troll. And with that, Nymphadora jumped on James's back and told him to mush. They ran towards Ruby first, and Nymphadora pointed the fake wand at her yelling, "Die!" the whole time.

"Maybe Bellatrix should have baby-sat her instead." Ruby muttered as she fell to the ground playing dead.

Next was Sirius, and he didn't die as easily, "I'm immune to spells!" He yelled theatrically.

"It's a kid's game!" Reed said, "Just die already!"

"Sorry," Sirius said, "I can't." And with that, he was promptly poked in the eye with the fake wand, sending him to the ground, moaning in pain. Nymphadora just laughed.

"We saved her!" she yelled once James had crawled, on all fours, over to where Lily was sitting on the fireplace mantle.

"You saved her!" Reed giggled picking the small girl up and twirling her around in circles, she giggled the whole time, and when she sat her down Nymphadora sat down with her.

"Well, this isn't going as bad as it normally does." Sirius muttered as Nymphadora grabbed onto a piece of Reed's curly hair, "Or not," he said, expecting her to pull on it.

Instead she screwed her eyes shut, and wrinkled up her nose, and in a slow transformation, she had long curly blond hair, and twinkling blue eyes. Identical to Reed's.

"Twins!" Nymphadora yelled happily, seeing the ecstatic look on Reed's face.

"Merlin you are so cute!" Reed giggle hugging the small girl tightly, "But I think it's time for a nap, and when you get up, we can play some more!"

"…Nap?" Nymphadora asked, uncertain of whether she wanted to take one or not.

"The sooner you take your nap," Reed said in a mothering tone, "the sooner we can play some more."

That was all it took for Nymphadora to go running up to her bedroom and tucking herself into her bed, in hopes that she would wake up soon, so they could play some more. She must have been tired, because it was an hour and a half later, and she still wasn't up.

"Merlin, how do you do it?" Sirius asked as they were laying across the living room floor, eating food they had gotten out of the fridge.

"How _don't_ you do it?" Reed asked, "She's such a smart, enjoyable little girl."

"Enjoyable. Right, well let's see you say that after she bites you."

"She actually likes me." Reed said sticking her tongue out at Sirius.

"Well at least one of you is good with kids." Ruby teased at Remus and Reed, "You guys will pop them out like rabbits." She winked at them.

"I don't think so." James muttered.

"Ruby!" Reed yelled, her face getting red.

Remus said nothing, but his face went almost as red as Ruby's. It was another hour until Nymphadora woke up, they gave her lunch, and then they played animals. James was a centaur, Reed was a unicorn, Sirius was a dog, Lily was a squid, Ruby was a pig, and Remus was cat. And Nymphadora owned them all on her farm.

When the clock had struck seven o'clock at night, Andromeda and Ted walked back into the house, in the middle of Nymphadora trying to make her hair the same shade as Lily's.

"Well, I hope you all had fun." She said as she picked up Nymphadora.

"Loads!" Reed said genuinely.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow; no one had ever had loads of fun baby-sitting her daughter before. Nymphadora's hair went back to the curly blond she had had when she was mimicking Reed's. She struggled in her mom's arms and reached out for Reed.

"Ree!" she yelled, "Ree!"

"I'm assuming that's you?" Andromeda asked, smiling as she passed Reed her squirming daughter.

"Yes…" Reed said looking a little embarrassed.

"Well then, say goodnight to everyone Nymphadora, it's time for them to leave."

"No!" she yelled as she struggled when her father tried to take her out of Reed's arms.

"Dora!" Ted yelled.

"No!" She yelled again, trying to bite him this time.

"We'll come see you again soon, and play dress up again!" Reed said.

"Like hell we will." Ruby muttered to herself.

"Really?" Nymphadora asked, her face softening a bit.

"Really." Sirius said pushing everyone towards the fireplace.

"And next time, Remus will play the horse!" James yelled as they disappeared into a burst of green fire.

Well Obviously I chose to upload another chapter… and sort of watch Torchwood at the same time… do any of you watch that show? It's amazing, but this episode was depressing as hell… anywho getting back on topic… I thought they could use some… happy time. Hahah. And of course I introduced Toddler! Nymphadora. I thin she would be adorable as a child, but a handful to take care of…


	17. Ignorance

What's this? Three chapters in one day! I did this because there won't be another chapter for like… a really long time

Anyways, I realized I never explained something… Mr. Potter is also dead. Um well how did he die exactly? He was killed by Mr. Corleone. I just didn't go into detail with that… sorry

* * *

Chapter seventeen: Ignorance

"I hate this place sometimes." Lily muttered as she and Reed walked down the hallway to their Transfiguration III class.

"Don't worry, I know how you feel." Reed said smiling comfortingly as they walked past James and Rowena in the hallway.

Reed and Lily set their books down on the desk they shared in McGonagall's class and dug through their bags for their wands. Lily's, ten and a quarter inch long, made from Willow with a core of swishy, Reed's made from Maple with a core of Unicorn hair, and thirteen inches.

"Today we will be transforming animals of one species, into that of a different species." McGonagall said as she paced in front of her desk, letting everyone settle into their seats.

"So in other words, we'll be turning worms into flies, like we did last time." Lily sighed, it was way too easy.

"Here I have a hat. You'll be pulling a slip of paper from it, then come grab an animal. The piece of paper has the name of another animal; you will be transfiguring your animal into." She walked around the classroom, stopping beside each table to let the students grab their slip of paper.

Lily slipped her hand into the pointed witch's hat first, and after she had pulled out a slip of paper, Reed stuck her hand in, grabbing a few, then letting them fall through her fingers until one caught.

"What did you get?" Lily asked leaning over.

Reed unfolded her paper, "…Wombat." Reed said frowning, "I'm not even sure I completely know what a wombat looks like."

"I got a…" she shoved the paper into Reed's hands after she opened it and read it to herself.

"A stag… you have horrible luck, you know that?" Reed asked laughing as the two of them walked up to the front of the class and grabbed rabbits to transfigure into a stag and a wombat.

"I don't know what he sees in her." Lily said finally.

"You mean, you don't know why he's not paying all of his attention to you like he normally does?" Reed asked setting her rabbit down on the table, she placed a body-binding spell on it so it wouldn't hop away, Lily did the same thing before answering.

"Why would it matter whether or not he likes her better then me?" Lily asked scoffing, trying to play it off.

"Oh yes, because you aren't even the tiniest bit envious of her because she's getting all of James's attention these days." Reed said pointing the tip of her wand at the rabbit's forehead.

"I am not envious of that girl!" Lily said loudly, attracting a bit of attention from the students sitting around them.

"Right. Well then, when she becomes my sister-in-law, I suppose you won't mind?" Reed asked egging her on.

"He doesn't like her like that." Lily said certain of herself as she flicked her wand at the rabbit, nothing happened, and then it sprouted exactly one antler.

"Oh yes he does, he was talking about how he was going to take her out on a date." Reed said smiling, "They'd make such a cute couple, wouldn't they?"

"He doesn't like her," Lily said through clenched teeth.

"How do you know that Lily?" Reed asked raising an eyebrow.

"He can't like her, because he was just kissing me yesterday!" Lily hissed angrily.

"Oh was he now?" Reed asked smiling.

"I…I didn't mean it like that." Lily said, managing to turn the rabbit's paws into hoofs, "I meant that you know, it was a small kiss, an 'I'm so sorry for your loss kiss'."

"I don't think they have an I'm sorry for your loss kiss that specifies making out with someone."

"I was not making out…" Lily began to yell, but she lowered her voice, "I was not making out with him."

"Sure you weren't. Oh look!" Reed giggled happily, "A wombat!"

"I think that's a platypus." Lily said looking at the oddly shaped animal.

"Well I mean, I know it has a different tail, but the rest of it is wombat. At least I don't have a… what it that anyways?" Reed asked, looking at the antlered, hoofed rabbit.

"I'm working on it!" Lily grumbled.

Lily and Reed stopped talking and continued to work on their animals, finally after much concentration, the rabbit became a stag, and Reed had fixed the platypus tail into that of a Wombat's.

"Before any of you leave, I am to remind you that you are encouraged to sign up for the defense program." McGonagall said after everyone had started to pack their stuff into their bags.

"Defense program?" Lily asked.

McGonagall looked at the two girls, and she straightened uncomfortably, "In light of recent events…" she started turning away from the two girls, "We have decided that maybe a course on defensive magic would be wise to teach."

"In light of recent events. She must mean Voldemort," Reed whispered to Lily, "In that case they should be teaching us offensive magic too. We can't defend ourselves forever you know."

Lily nodded, still listening to McGonagall, "The sign up sheet will be up here, just print your name clearly and meet in the fourth floor hallway this weekend. That is all, you are dismissed."

Lily and Reed were the only two students in the class who walked up to McGonagall's desk to write their names on the list. Reed scanned over who had already signed, "Oh look Lily. Rowena signed up too!" Reed laughed jokingly as she signed her name under James's.

"Oh fun, maybe we'll see her there." Lily muttered sarcastically signing her name under Reed's, "Come on, the weekend starts tomorrow, I want to prepare myself." Lily said grabbing ahold of Reed's arm and pulling her out of the classroom.

"Oh I am so excited!" Lily giggled as she, Ruby, and Reed nearly skipped down the hallway towards the defensive magic class.

"What do you think has her so happy?" James asked, as he, Sirius, and Remus trailed the girls.

"Dunno," Sirius said, he smiled wickedly, "I hope Snivellus signed up for this class."

"No, he signed up for the, beginner Death Eater class going being taught on the fifth floor." James said laughing.

They stopped when they walked up on a group of people. Some of the hallway was tapped off in a large rectangular shape. There were about twenty other students there, all of them sixth years. Which must have meant it was a sixth year course now. Lily stood on her tip toes, scanning the crowd for Rowena.

"Please, if I may have your attention!" came a woman's voice, "This is a hypothetical course only! You will only use what is learned here if it is absolutely needed!" Reed could see the Professor now, she was the new defense against the dark arts teacher, they had just brought her in this year, and she seemed pretty well liked.

There were murmurs of agreement, but Reed couldn't really see any of the students not using this for fun, if they learned anything fun that is. Professor Macomb started separating the students by gender, males on one side of the rectangle, females on the other side. Each student was given a number, and when your number was called, you were up.

"First we have 3 and 14!" Professor Macomb called looking at the clipboard she had in her hands

"Guess that's me!" Ruby said as she stepped into the rectangle, Matt Wood, Reed's would be boyfriend stepped in, he must be number 3.

"Now before we start, which on of you can tell me a defensive spell?" Macomb asked looking at the two of them.

"Protego, it protects you from harmful spells." Ruby said before Matt had a chance to open his mouth.

"Correct, now on the count of three, I want you, Mr. Wood to yell out a random spell, not one that can cause serious damage though. On three. One, two, three." Macomb didn't waste time.

"Stupefy!" Matt said, it wouldn't hurt to much if it hit, so it was the best one to go with.

"Protego!" Ruby yelled slashing her wand downwards through the air, an invisible shield seemed to come up and dissipate the Stupefy Matt had sent her way.

"Great! Just great! That's one example of protective spells, next I have number… 8 and 15!" Rowena scrambled into the rectangle.

"Oh, I'm eight." Reed said looking at her slip of paper, "Do you want it Lily?" Reed asked handing her the piece of paper.

Lily nodded, "Sure. I'd be glad to take it." Lily smiled, and gave Reed her piece of paper as she walked into the spell area.

"Oh," Rowena said uncomfortably, "Hello Lily."

"Hello Rowena."

"Okay, Rowena, I would like you to send the spell, Lily I would like you to defend, okay?"

Rowena shifted her weight nervously, "Okay." She managed to get out, she took a stance, and waving her wand sideways, she yelled, "Densaugeo!"

She wanted her to get buck teeth? Lily didn't think so, she pointed her wand straight forward, and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" A bolt of red light shot out of the end of Lily's wand, and hit Rowena in the middle of the chest, sending her flying backwards, but not to far.

"Rowena!" Macomb yelled dropping her clipboard and running over to the black-haired girl, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Rowena said sitting up and narrowing her eyes at Lily, "I just had the wind knocked out of me though. I'm completely fine."

"Lily, please be a little gentler next time, there's no need to incapacitate a student in a trial run."

"Sorry Professor, I guess I just got caught up in the moment." She smiled sweetly at Rowena, "I hope you're not hurt, are you? I thought you would be able to defend yourself, I guess I should have made it weaker, huh?"

"Yeah," Rowena said smiling, although it was clear she wanted to tear her throat out, "Maybe."

"Merlin, you kids sure do take a lot of damn energy to keep in line, fine next up is 2 and 12!"

There was a palpable silence as Francesca Corleone walked into the spell designated area. At first no one came up to face her, "Where's number 12?" Macomb asked as she looked around, trying to think of who she gave twelve too.

"James…" Reed said quietly looking down at her slip of paper, with a big fat 12 written on it.

"Give it to me." He said holding his hand out.

"But maybe I should just…"

"No," James said cutting her short, "Give me the slip of paper." Reed nodded, and handed it to him, and he walked out into the rectangle.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this interesting?" Francesca asked raising a perfectly waxed eyebrow.

"I don't see how." James hissed.

"Well it's ironic really." Francesca laughed, Severus grimaced from the side-line.

"If by ironic you mean because your parents are locked up in Azkaban because they murdered my parents, I really don't see it." James said continuing to be a smart ass, even now.

"Confringo!" Francesca yelled angrily.

"I said menial spells only!" Macomb yelled angrily.

James managed to duck out of the way, and pointing his wand at Francesca's face he yelled, "Reducto!"

"What part of menial do the two of you not understand!" Macomb yelled.

James's spell missed Francesca and ended up hitting a portrait on the wall directly behind her, causing it to rip, the frame to shatter, and then drop. Francesca looked behind her at the destroyed picture, turned her head, and snarled at James.

"You dare!" She yelled.

"I only dare as much as your parents you Italian slut!" James yelled.

"Crucio!" Francesca was about to wave her wand, sending the spell, but a flash of blue light came out of no where, sending her flying backwards, into a wall.

"I will not have things like that uttered in my class." Professor Macomb hissed, her eyes narrowed angrily, she looked at James, "I want you to report to detention for the next week, Ms. Corleone, you are to report to Professor Dumbledore's office right this instant, he will take care of you."

She didn't need to say it twice; it was about two seconds later when every single student had gotten out of the hallway. Lily, Sirius, Reed, Ruby, and Remus were waiting for James to get to them so they could walk back together, but he brushed past them angrily, not speaking a word for the rest of the night.

* * *

Hello! So, I hope you had a little fun reading this chapter. It was sort of hard trying to remember spells, but I did okay I think haha. I'm going to start listing spells or anything magical that I reference at the bottom, or anything that I happen to make up so no one gets confused

Protego - protects from harmful spells

Stupefy – powerful stunning spell

Confringo - causes the target to explode

Densaugeo – causes front teeth to grow abnormally large

Crucio – torturing curse (unforgivable)

Reducto – blasts objects out of the way


	18. Dead End

Chapter eighteen: Dead End

"Why are they being so… so gloomy?" Ruby asked as she watched Reed and James in the common rooms.

Reed was sitting on the window seat, looking out unto the grounds, a faraway look on her face. James was sitting on one of the couches, his homework on his lap; he kept balling up his parchment, because he was messing up every two seconds.

"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Lily asked setting her book down in her lap.

"…Saturday?" Sirius asked looking up from The Marauder's map.

"Well… yes, but what happens tomorrow?" Lily said helping them along.

"…Parent's weekend…" Ruby said finally, "And they don't have any parents to come."

"I won't have any parents there either." Sirius said pointing his wand at the map, "Mischief managed." The ink on the map began receding until it was finally gone.

"Yeah, but that's by choice, they can't have any parents. Way to be insensitive." Ruby sighed rolling her eyes.

"Is it insensitive to say that I'm glad my parents aren't coming?" Sirius asked stretching out on the couch.

"Just a bit." Lily muttered picking her book back up.

"Why is Remus being so depressing then? He has parents who are coming, and he looks worse then Reed." Sirius said pointing over to Remus who was sitting in a corner alone, reading a book.

"Maybe he doesn't like his parents either." Sirius said shrugging.

"Has anyone ever met Remus's parents?" Ruby asked craning her neck so she could look at him.

"No. Their names are Hannah and John. But other then that, I have no idea what they're like."

"Do you think one of them is a werewolf?" Sirius asked.

"It's not a hereditary condition." Lily said narrowing her eyes at him.

"What! I was just asking." Sirius said taking rolling his eyes.

Lily got up and walked over to where Reed was sitting on the window. She sat down beside her and looked out the window, trying to find what she was looking at. She smiled a little when she found the object. Severus Snape was sitting near the Black lake. He had homework sprawled over his lap, and he was scratching his head like he was having a hard time deciding answers to questions.

"Do you think his parents hate him too?" Reed asked.

Lily was taken aback for a moment, hate him too? Whose parents hated them? Surely she wasn't talking about herself. Allison and Nate loved Reed. They loved her enough to adopt her.

"You don't think your parents hate you, so you?" Lily asked, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"No. Not Allison and Nate. I mean my biological parents. Why would someone leave their child just because their new boyfriend doesn't want kids? I mean, who does that?"

"Assholes," Lily said finally, "No offense, but they don't deserve a child like you Reed."

Reed smiled, "No offense taken. How do you think James is holding up? This has to be affecting him more then it is me."

"I think it's affecting you both equally, but I don't think he's doing well, he's actually doing his homework three days before it's due."

Reed laughed, "Point taken," Reed sighed, "I used to love this weekend. When my parents loved each other. Now, it seems like torture."

"I know how you feel Reed. Trust me I do. Just hang in there okay? The weekend will be over in forty-eight hours, and then you won't have to deal with it again." Lily said comfortingly.

"Until next year." Reed scoffed sarcastically.

"Until next year." Lily agreed.

"Are you excited to meet Remus's parents?" Lily asked trying to change the subject from her dead parents, to his living ones.

"I am. He isn't so much. I don't know why. All the pictures I've seen of the three of them, they look happy, but he's been changing the subject whenever I ask him about it."

"It's just anxiety. Remus is probably afraid of introducing you to his parents. Afraid they'll embarrass him in front of you. I'm sure it's just that." Lily said confidently.

"Yeah, that's probably it." Reed said, reassured.

"Come on, we're all going down stairs for dinner in about five minutes. You're coming right?" Lily asked standing up from the table.

"Yeah, I'm coming with you."

"I would like to announce that tonight for dinner, we are hosting your parents," Professor McGonagall said while all the students were lined up to go into the Great hall, "I don't think I need to remind you to be on your best behaviors."

"No Professor," came the call of over 100 students. McGonagall seemed to be happy with this response, and opened the doors to the hall.

The tables had been magically elongated to fit both parents and children at them. Which was a good thing, because it seemed like there were twice as many parents as there were children. Reed looked over at Remus, trying to see if he was looking at his parents, giving her a chance to size them up before she actually had to talk to them.

Ruby giggled and tore off towards the table as she found her parents at once. Her father, Harold Taylor and her mother, Mina Taylor were sitting near the end of the table. Reed smiled when she saw them, it was hard not to when you saw Mrs. Taylor. She was blond, with big green eyes, big bow-shaped lips, and the most perfect body a woman could ask for.

"There are my parents." Lily said pointing out a pair of adults sitting, coincidentally right next to the Taylors.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans were just like Lily. They both had green eyes. Mrs. Evans had dark red hair, just like Lily's, and pale skin. Her father had light brown hair, and seemed to be an all around nice guy, the way he smiled at Lily when he saw her, made Reed happy.

"Did you want to sit with Ruby?" Remus asked suddenly, looking down at Reed.

"I thought I was going to sit next to you and your parents?" Reed asked hopefully.

"We'll be spending all day with them tomorrow." Remus said, and Reed could tell something about that made him nervous, "Why don't you sit with Ruby, Lily, and Sirius tonight?"

She didn't want to. She wanted to sit with him. But she wasn't going to argue about it, and when she nodded her head in agreement, he kissed the top of her head, and took off towards the other end of the table. Reed sat down in between Ruby and Lily, with Sirius on Ruby's other side.

"Why aren't you sitting with Remus?" Ruby asked watching her carefully as she sat down.

"He… I guess he just wanted alone time with his parents, to prepare himself for tomorrow." Reed said unsure.

"Right," Ruby said frowning, "Of course he did."

"Hello Reed!" Mrs. Taylor said after she and Ruby had stopped talking, "How have you been?"

"I'm good Mrs. Taylor. Thank you. How was your vacation?"

"Oh it was horrible." She said, and the surprised look that came across her husbands face made Reed, Sirius, and Ruby laugh, even Lily let out a small chuckle, "I got sun burnt, and the fish would try and eat your toes when we went snorkeling. I cannot understand why Muggles find that so fun."

"Mom," Ruby said raising her eyebrows and giving a side-glance at Lily's parents who were sitting right beside them.

"Oh dear. I'm so terribly sorry. I just think it is the worst way to spend your down time."

"Oh, no offense taken," Mrs. Evans said happily, "I don't quite understand why you play such dangerous sports like Quidditch either."

Lily's mouth seemed to be hanging to the floor she was so astonished her mother had just said that, "Mom! Mr. Taylor is a professional Quidditch player."

"Oh, it's fine dear," Mrs. Taylor said, "I rather hate Quidditch myself." Then she laughed, and again the look on her husbands face was making the teenaged kids laugh.

"Where are your parents today?" Mrs. Evans asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

"Mom!" Lily yelled, "This is my friend Reed Potter. You remember me telling you about Reed don't you?" Lily quickly asked before her mother could ask anything else.

"No I don't think I do…" Mrs. Evans said with an apologetic look on her face.

"It's okay Lily, my parents are dead, that's why they aren't here." Reed said rather calmly.

"What a nice way to put it Reed dear." Mrs. Taylor, always the one for saying exactly what she was thinking, said.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry I asked. Has it been long?"

"Mom!" Lily said, her face was getting redder by the second, "You don't ask people that."

"For about five months now." Reed said, still keeping a straight face.

"Oh, well I am so sorry for your loss my dear." Mrs. Evans looked and sounded like she meant it, so Reed was okay.

"Oh, I hope everyone doesn't start getting sentimental and gushy. It would ruin the whole restive mood." Mrs. Taylor said.

Ruby just gave an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes, "I think maybe we should just eat." Ruby said after a while.

"Oh yes, food does sound wonderful. Better then the sad talk that we've been having." Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Evans changed seats with their husbands so that they could sit next to each other and talk.

It was then that Reed noticed something she had not. When they had walked into the great hall, and she had seen Mr. Taylor, he looked like he was sitting down on one of the wooden benches like the rest of the parents, but now that he was switching seats with his wife, she could see something horrible.

Mr. Taylor was in a wheelchair. It must have happened from when he had been tortured. But if that was the case, then he should have been walking by now. Which meant… he couldn't walk. And if Mr. Taylor couldn't walk. He couldn't play Quidditch. The family's main source of income.

Reed looked over to Ruby. She was chatting away with Sirius, her mother making an outlandish comment every now and then about anything she would think of. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Evans were talking about the differences between wizarding sports and Muggle sports like they had known each other for a while now.

Reed looked around for James. He hadn't come. Just like she knew he wouldn't. Still Lily had said she'd tried to get him down there. For some reason, even with the excitement on seeing Remus's parents for the first time, Reed wasn't so sure that Parent's weekend would be such a good one after all.

* * *

Ugh short chapter is short, but don't worry the next one is a lot longer :)

Please review! It makes me happy!


	19. Happiness

Chapter 19: Happiness

"Reed, wake up. You have to leave in like, twenty minutes." Reed grabbed around her bed, and once she found her extra pillow, she held it over her head, so she could block out whoever was speaking.

"Fine then," Came Ruby's voice, "If you want to look like an ugly hag for Remus's parents, be my guest."

Remus's parents? Then it all hit her. She had forgotten somehow, in the bliss of sleep, that it was parent's weekend. And today was the day that she would meet her boyfriend's parents, the day she would spend almost six hours of her time with them.

Reed swung her feet over the bed as fast as she could and made a mad dash for the bathroom. She speedily washed her hair, brushed her teeth, and applied light make-up, and she still had five minutes to spare. With a happy smile on her face, she walked downstairs into the common rooms.

Remus was standing by the girl's staircase. He had on a nice tan cardigan and slacks. He looked very cleaned up. When he saw her, he raised and eyebrow and then smiled.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked.

"Are you going in that? I don't know what my parents will think of me then. They might think I'm going out with a stripper."

Reed looked down, in all her haste; she had forgotten she was still wearing the towel she had wrapped around herself after she had stepped out of the shower. Reed could feel her face get hot, and she knew it was turning red.

"Wow, way to make a good impression Reed. We'll see you guys later." Ruby said as she and Sirius, who had found it necessary to whistle at her, passed by, their stuff in hand ready to spend the day with Ruby's parents.

"I think I'm going to go change." Reed said looking at the floor.

"That would probably be a good idea." Remus said smiling at her as she ran back up the stairs.

Five minutes later, she came running back down, in her gray cardigan, and a black knee length skirt. She looked dressed for school, only without her robes, and without her tie. Remus smiled when he saw her again.

"Much better," he smiled at her, "Are you ready to go now?"

"Ready." Reed said nodding her head excitedly.

"Have fun!" Lily called from the couch, as she waited for her parents to come pick her up for the picnic they had planned.

"We will!" Reed said happily, no one noticed the sour look on Remus's face.

"Should I wear this one? Or… this one?" Francesca asked as she and Snape were standing in the Slytherin common rooms. Francesca holding out two dresses. One was a black wrap dress; the other was a little more revealing.

"Does it matter?" Severus asked as she bounced the two up and down waiting for him to pick.

"Of course it does! I'm going out with you and your parents today! I want to look nice." She actually pouted.

"The black one, it's still cold outside." Severus said referring to the more cold weather decent one.

"Aw. How thoughtful." Francesca smiled and bounded downstairs to her dorm room, when she came back up, her hair was in a messy bun that hung low towards her shoulder, and she had the black, more suited for cold weather dress on. If you hadn't known anything about her, she would seem like a very nice girl.

"Alright lets go, we don't want to make them wait, or be late ourselves." Francesca said tugging on his hand and basically dragging him up into the great hall where they were meeting his parents before they all went out to Hogsmeade together.

"I told you she was a pretty girl." Mrs. Snape said to her husband when they saw the two of them coming down the hallway. Mr. Snape just grunted in reply, he wanted to get this over with, and get home as soon as he could.

"Hello Mrs. Snape," Francesca said curtsying, "I'm Francesca Corleone."

"Oh, what a darling you are. Isn't she darling?" Mrs. Snape said looking at her husband, again all she got was a small grunt, "Well then, perhaps we should be going. I made some reservations at the only suitable sit down restaurant in Hogsmeade; we should be there on time." She said with a haughty sigh.

"Of course." Francesca said, wrapping her arm through Severus's, the two of them walked behind his parents. Today was going to be a good day.

Today was going to be an awful day. Reed had all but glimpsed at Remus's parents, and already she was afraid. Remus's mother, Hannah was a nice looking woman, probably in her mid 40's. She was wearing casual clothing, but she looked refined at the same time as her hair was pulled up in to a chignon and the pearls around her neck and hanging from her ears glistened in the light coming through the windows.

Remus's father on the other hand was different. His brown hair had streaks of gray through it. It was ruffled, but combed neatly over to one side. His moustache was nicely groomed. His clothes were nice as well. The only thing was the expression on his face. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else but there.

Hannah smiled warmly when she saw the two of them walking down the hallway towards them. Her blue eyes scrunching at the ends as her smile reached practically from ear to ear. Almost nervously, she tucked a loose piece of faded blond hair behind her ear.

"Hello Remus dear," Hannah said first giving her son a light peck on his cheek. Remus seemed to shrink away from it, but the movement was hardly noticeable, still Hannah seemed to have picked up on it because she moved away rather quickly. Instead she turned to Reed.

"You must be Reed. I've heard a lot about you in Remus's letters that he sends back home. I'm so glad to have finally met you." Hannah held out her hand, and Reed took it quickly shaking with a firm grip.

"It's lovely to meet you as well Mrs. Lupin." Reed smiled genuinely, maybe today wasn't going to be as bad as she thought.

"So she is real." Mr. Lupin scoffed

Okay, scratch that, she was right to think that today was going to end horribly, or start horribly… or both. What did he mean real? Why wouldn't she be real. She looked over to Remus, her expression confused. His cheeks were covered in a faint blush, from embarrassment or anger, Reed couldn't tell.

"Yes Father, Reed is perfectly real as you can see, I didn't make anything up." Remus replied, his voice was strained.

Hannah looked worried, her eyes darting around until she rested them on Reed again, "Well," she said finally breaking the silence that had settled between the group, "We should head off to lunch shouldn't we?"

Mr. Lupin just nodded tersely and turned on his heel and walked towards the main entrance. Hannah looked upset for a moment, but her expression settled unto that of contentment and she turned to follow him.

Reed couldn't help but feel there was something going on that she didn't know about. With the way Remus and his parents were fighting it almost seemed as if they had gotten into a fight. Reaching her hand out, Reed grabbed Remus's in hers and squeezed gently. Much to her surprise though, instead of smiling at her or squeezing hers back, he pulled his hand away.

"Lily darling, are you sure everything is okay?" Violet Evans asked looking at her daughter.

Lily looked away from what currently had her attention. James Potter. He was sitting on the other side of the lake. Normally she would have thought that he was stalking her or something, but he had already been there when they'd gotten outside and set up their picnic.

"Yes Mother, everything is fine," Lily smiled, "why would you ask?"

"Well…" Her father, Alfred, looked a little uneasy, "It's just that you've been starring at that boy over there for a couple of minutes now. You seemed like you were studying him actually. Is he a friend of yours?"

Lily could feel her face heat up. She had been starring? And it was noticeable enough that her parents had caught on? She hadn't felt this embarrassed since she ripped her skirt in Kindergarten and all he boys had made fun of her rainbow printed underwear.

"James? Well he's…" She trailed off, what was he exactly? A friend? Sure she could say that, but he wasn't really a friend if they had happened to have a right proper snog was he? Would that make him friends with benefits then? She didn't think so. Lily didn't take advantage of those 'benefits' enough for him to qualify as such, "He's just a guy I know." There, a guy she knew. Technically she was right.

"Darling," Violet started, "Young ladies don't stare at young men and blush like you do if they are just, 'guys you know'."

Lily could feel her whole face heat up. She had been blushing? Well if she hadn't noticed before, she defiantly did now. She couldn't have been blushing though could she? Sure, James was attractive. He had ruffled hair that made him look like he had just stepped off of a broom, and his well defined chin made him look slightly older and more rugged then he really was, plus there were his lips, those nice, full, and kissable, "I don't like him." Lily said her voice breaking.

Alfred Evans laughed, "Pumpkin, did I ever tell you how your mother and I met?"

Lily looked at her father, an exasperated look crossing over her features. This was going to be a story that she was supposed to learn a life lesson from. She had these often, and normally the moral of the story never actually helped her situation at all.

"It was in University actually," her father started, "Your mother was possibly the most incredible woman I had ever had the pleasure of setting my eyes on. She was brilliantly smart, bloody beautiful, and she had a sharp tongue on her that no one could rival." Lily wasn't sure where this was going yet, so she kept her mouth closed and continued to listen.

"I asked her out, and do you know what she told me?"

"Yes?" Lily ventured, she must have if they were married now.

"She told me there was no way in bloody hell that she would ever go on a date with me. I was to pompous, to haughty. Said I was only concerned with myself and my popularity."

Lily smiled, that sounded a lot like James. She didn't know her father and he were so similar. But her father was wonderful, and caring. There was no way the two of them were anything alike.

"So every single day for the next year I asked her out. I never failed. Rain or shine, I would find her and ask her for a date," he sighed, "and every day she would tell me no."

"I don't understand where this is going…" Lily muttered.

"Shh darling, he's getting to it." Her mother smiled.

"So one day, I was sick and in the nurses office. I hadn't seen her at all that day. It was less then an hour until classes would be over, and I thought I had lost my chance." Her father looked over to his wife and smiled at her lovingly, "Before I knew it, she was standing by the bed I was occupying, and the first thing to come out of her mouth was,"

"Why didn't you ask me out today." Her mother finished smiling widely.

"As you can assume, I was entirely surprised that she would even take two minutes out of her day to bless me with her presence. I asked her if it would make any difference whether I had asked her out or not since she always turned me down."

"You're point being?" Lily asked, she was still confused.

"Well your mother told me she was feeling nice that day, and seeing as how I was under the weather she would take pity on my poor soul and allow me to take her out on a date."

"And the moral of this story is…" Lily asked trailing off.

Violet sighed, "The moral of this story is, is that I love you father, and he is the father of my children. If I had never given him the chance, you and your sister would have never been born," Violet patted Lily's hand, "Take pity on the boy darling, let him take you out on that date." She turned her attention back to her father, staring at him lovingly.

Lily looked away, somehow she felt like she was intruding on a private moment. Curse parents and their intuition. Maybe they were right. Maybe she should just give James a chance. It wasn't like she was going to marry him or anything, but one little date really couldn't hurt… could it?

"Um… so what is it that you do Mrs. Lupin?" Reed asked as they were sitting at a table, eating lunch.

So far the conversation had been light. Very, very, light. As in, there really hadn't been any talking going on at all. Whether the mood was just tense or awkward Reed couldn't really tell, she was never good at reading the atmosphere.

"Oh, I work as a secretary at the ministry of magic," she smiled, "and please call me Hannah."

"Oh, thank you. Is it nice there? I was thinking of a ministry job myself."

Hannah looked like she was about to answer, but her husband cut in, "Since we're playing the twenty questions game, what is it that you see in our son?"

"Father!" Remus nearly shouted, but he kept his voice under control.

Reed looked from Hannah to john, and then to Remus. Was she really supposed to answer that. Had it been a joke? She looked back to John who seemed like he was waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Well he's charming," Reed started.

"As charming as fur and fangs can be." John said, not bothering to keep his tone quiet.

"John!" Hannah cried, but as soon as he looked at her she looked away and folded her hands in her lap.

"Go on." John continued.

Reed felt a little frightened now. What could she say that wouldn't upset him or make him say something awful like what was just said?

"He's great to me. Always holds doors open, or pulls out my seat for me. He's brilliant as well. Top of our class actually, I don't think anyone is smarter then he is."

"Not like that will get him anywhere."

"I don't think I understand…" Reed said narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Reed, just let it go." Remus muttered.

"No one will hire him knowing what he his. You'd be smart to get a different boy Ms. Potter, because ours is going no where."

"That's ridiculous!" Reed raised her voice slightly, "Anyone would be mad not to give him a job. Certainly I know Dumbledore would hire him in a second."

"Yes, but no one wants their children being taught by a monster." John chuckled, as though the subject of Remus's condition was somehow a joke.

"How could you say that about your own child?" Reed asked her voice getting soft, she felt like she was about to cry.

"Reed just let it go." Remus said again only a little louder this time.

"No I will not let it go!" Reed turned to him with an angry expression on her face, "I'm terribly sorry for being rude to my elders, but you have a wonderful son! Sure he may have a condition, but it doesn't make him any less human!"

"Reed that's enough I can stick up for myself." Remus tugged on her hand to get her to sit back down. When had she stood up?

"Then go on, defend yourself." Reed looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell his father to Sod off or something. He just looked down at the table.

"See, can't even speak up. Worthless I tell you." John muttered to no one in particular.

"I'm leaving," Reed said looking at Remus, "I have to much respect and love for you to sit here and listen to this. If you had any shred of sanity left, you would leave as well." Reed grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair, "It was nice meeting you, but I think I need to leave now."

And with that, Reed left the restaurant, without Remus.

When Reed stormed back into the Gryffindor common rooms, she wasn't alone. Lily was sitting on the couch, a book in her hand, and a frustrated look on her face. Quietly Reed sat down on the couch next to her, not sure if she should disturb her or not.

Lily closed the book with more force then necessary causing Reed to jump a little.

"I assume that your day didn't go well?" Lily asked looking at her.

Reed nodded slowly, "you'd assume correctly."

"Want to talk about it?" Lily asked setting the book aside so she could turn her full attention to her curly headed friend.

"Not really," She looked at Lily and smiled, "You have that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The one you always get when you want to tell someone something."

Lily knew what look she was talking about. She had done a lot of thinking after her parents had left to go home once their picnic was over. She had walked back into the common rooms and James was sitting there. When he looked up and gave her a small smile, her heart started to race. She wasn't exactly sure why, but when she remembered the conversation she had had with her parents her face went red hot with a blush.

"I… I think I may want to date your brother."

"What?"

"Your brother! James! The one with black hair and blue eyes who plays Quidditch?"

"Yes, I know who you're talking about Lily I just didn't think that was what you were going to admit…"

"Don't get me wrong! It's not like I'm in love with him or anything, but I figured he's been asking me out constantly for almost three whole years now… why not give him a chance?"

Reed wasn't sure if she was hearing Lily correctly or not. Had she actually just said she wanted to go out on a date with her brother? The boy she fought with constantly and turned down almost as much? Sighing, Reed gave Lily a small smile and pulled her into a hug.

"You have no idea how happy that would make him."

"I… I just thought we might try it out is all." Pulling away from the hug, Lily held Reed at arms length, it was evident to see she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and red and her cheeks looked like they had been stained with tears.

"Did you and Remus get into a fight?" Reed nodded her head and hugged Lily closer to her.

"About his parents actually, and in front of his parents at that." Reed sighed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lily asked comfortingly rubbing Reed's back, trying to sooth her.

"Not particularly."

The two looked up as they heard the swishing noise the fat lady's portrait made as it opened up and then closed again. Remus was standing in the middle of the room, his forehead glistened with sweat and he was taking deep breaths, like he had run all the way back from the restaurant.

"I need," he said taking a deep breath, "To talk to you."

"Funny, you didn't feel like talking before." Reed mumbled turning away from him and burying her face in Lily's arms.

"I don't have time to play games Reed," Remus's mouth was set into a straight line, he looked like he was in pain, "I told them to sod off."

Reed lifted her head to look at him, her eyes growing a little larger, "You told them to what?"

"Well, not exactly in that way. I was a little more polite about it. I told them they could either be happy for me, or not talk to me ever again." Remus took a couple steps closer so he was at the end of the couch.

"I… think I'm going to go do homework now." Lily said getting up from the scarlet colored couch and making her way up to the girl's dorm room.

"What… what did they say?" Reed asked quietly scooting over so Remus could take a seat next to her.

"Thank you," Remus muttered as he sat down, "My mother looked like she was about to cry, and my father just scoffed and said 'fine' and left the restaurant." Reed looked down at the couch. Now she felt guilty.

"What?" Remus asked confused, "I thought you would be happy, aren't you the one who told me to stick up for myself?"

Reed chewed on her bottom lip, it was an awful habit she had picked up when she was little, "Yes, I did. And I'm happy but… I fell like you felt you had to pick between me or your parents."

Remus looked at her, his eyes getting wide, and suddenly he let out a loud guffaw. Reed looked at him indignantly. Well sorry for telling him what was wrong! He placed his head on her shoulder and continued to laugh. After a few seconds, his laughter turned into controlled chuckles.

"Reed, you didn't make me choose. You just forced me to stick up for myself."

"When you say forced it makes me feel like I did something wrong!" Reed cried.

Remus sighed and took Reed's face in his hands. He smiled at her lovingly and leaned in, pressing their noses together gently. Reed's breath hitched as she could feel Remus's own hot breath on her face.

Contrary to what her friends would like to have everyone believe they didn't get many moments like this where they could just… be intimate. Actually, Remus was some what of a prude really. When they did get chances like this, it took a whole lot of convincing on Reed's part to make him kiss her.

Remus leaned in further pressing his lips to Reed's. Reed could feel her face flush as his rough lips worked over her own soft ones. They fit together perfectly, like they were made for each other. Was that even possible? Having someone who fit so perfectly with you? Reed was brought back to the present when she could feel the slight tug on her back.

Sighing into Remus's lips she leaned back like he was trying to get her to. It was a much more comfortable position then being pressed against the arm rest. Remus leaned over her, his lips still moving over hers. Breaking away for breath after he had successfully laid her down in a more comfortable position he smiled at her.

"You know I love you right?" Reed smiled, and answered by attacking his lips with hers.

She always thought it was weird that she was the more aggressive one when it came to their… activities. She weaved her hands through his hair, pulling him closer to her. Every now and then she would nip at his bottom lip, she knew it drove him crazy. She giggled when she heard the deep noise he made in the back of his throat, and suddenly, she was pushed a little harder against the couch. Now this was more like it.

Feeling a bit more confident then usual, Remus let his hands wonder, first running up Reed's waist, but then slipping under her shirt, "Mm, feels good." Reed breathed against his lips arching her back a little pressing her body up against his.

"You're going to be the death of me some day Reedy." Remus muttered as he pressed feather light kisses up and down her neck.

"Well if this is how we're going to die, then I don't think I would mind." She gasped when she felt his fingers push under her bra.

"You guys do know you're out in the common room right?" And then it was ruined.

Remus moaned, and not a good one, as he took his hands out from under Reed's shirt. Of course, just when they had started to get somewhere, Sirius had to ruin it. "I hate you." Remus narrowed his eyes as he looked on to his friend.

"Sorry mate, but it was either me or James, and I don't think James would have been as nice about it." Remus sighed. That's true, last time James had thrown water on them, and that had defiantly ruined the mood.

Remus smiled down at Reed, "I'm going to go change."

"And take a cold shower, because I think you need one." Sirius chuckled as he ducked a flying pillow that was aimed at his face. He and Remus took off up the stairs to get changed into more comfortable clothing.

Ruby smiled as she sat down on the couch next to Reed. "So how was your Parent's weekend?"

Reed's lips spread into a wide smile, "Wonderful."

* * *

Ooooh! This chapter was almost 9 full pages! Hahaha. I hoped you liked it! Please review…? Please? It would make me the most happy person on the earth :D

Ummm so Someone pointed out to me that I had Arthur in one of the first chapters as a student. I'm an idiot and can't do math right so I apologize... Let's just pretend he had a job or something... Hahaha, or we can just pretend it was someone else.

Please review!

:D


	20. Secret

9 pages and 4,571 words I think that's a good sized chapter hm? Anyways, I want to Thank Neon Cookies 123 for pointing out some problems from the first couple of chapters, and please continue to do that if anyone finds mistakes so I can correct them please? I would love you forever. Anyways, Here's chapter 20! Hope Ya'll like it :)

* * *

Chapter 20: Secret

It had been three weeks since parent's weekend, and it was now the month of March, with nothing better to do, the six friends were in the common rooms, studying for upcoming finals. Lily had gotten tired of everybody slacking off, and had cursed everyone's hands. So if you got the question wrong, you would feel a slight stinging in your hand, the more you got wrong, the more painful the sting became.

"This is so sadistic," Ruby said, "Ouch! That wasn't my answer!"

"The correct answer was Wingardium Leviosa." Lily said flipping the sheet of parchment over so she could see the next page of questions.

"I knew that!" Ruby yelled waving her hand, hopping it would dull the pain just a little bit.

"Reed… who wrote 'A History of Magic'?" Lily asked looking up at her blond headed friend.

"Bathilda Bagshot!" Reed said quickly, as though she thought that if she didn't answer fast enough, her hand would be stung as well.

"That's right." Lily said turning to James.

"Why does she get all the easy questions?" James asked.

"Because she actually studies. Okay… what potion lets you obtain certain qualities such as bravery or intelligence for a short period of time?"

"How the hell should I know?" James asked, Potions was not his best subject, "Ouch! Damn it all!"

"Maybe you should have studied more… Remus!" Lily said with a smile on her face, "Mermaids inhabit the black lake, true or false?"

"True." Remus answered with a sigh.

"Very good."

"That was an easy question too!" James said.

"Tough luck Potter, study harder next time." Lily said narrowing her eyes.

"I thought we were on a first name basis Lily?" James asked, feigning a hurt look.

"Not until you study harder." Lily said with a huff.

"I got all of my questions right…" Ruby said quietly.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "I only missed one."

"Well that's terrific for all of you!" James muttered as he flopped down on the couch, his hands behind his head.

"I'm bored…" Reed said finally after a long silence, "We should do something."

"Why don't you and Moony go suck face like you always do." James said lazily.

"I do not suck face!" Reed yelled, her face getting red, "And we never do it in front of you guys like Ruby and Sirius!"

"You're hurting my feelings Reedy." Sirius said laughing.

"Good!" Reed huffed.

"We could go out into the Dark Forrest." James suggested.

"No!" The other five all yelled at once.

"Well then what do you propose, because I'm all out of ideas!" James yelled irritably.

"We could sneak into the Slytherin common rooms." Everyone turned around to look at Lily who was sitting in one of the scarlet colored loveseat casually looking her cuticles over.

"Did Lily just suggest doing something that could get us in trouble?" Sirius asked.

"I do believe she did Padfoot," James said perking up at the idea, "But her suggestion has merit."

"That it does Prongs. I think we should do it." Sirius said happily, a big smile on his face.

"No way!" Reed said, "I don't like any idea that could possibly end up in us getting tortured…again!"

"I have to agree with Reed, sorry." Remus sighed sitting down on the couch beside James.

"You have to agree with her, or she has you whipped? Which one is it?" James asked.

"A little of both." Ruby scoffed, "I like it, it's something we haven't done before, and it'll be fun, like an adventure."

"Yeah," Reed sighed, "One where we get beat up and tortured."

"They won't torture us," James said finally, "they're students, they wouldn't get away with it."

"Come on Reedy! Please, we won't go without you!" Sirius said falling to his knees in front of her dramatically, "I am begging you!"

Reed looked down at him, and then up at Lily, Ruby, James, and Remus who were all looking at her expectantly. She sighed and then rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll go."

"Oh thank you!" Sirius yelled grabbing her hand and kissing the top of it three or four times.

"You better be. If any of us get in trouble, you're all getting blamed, not me." Reed said finally.

After Reed had agreed to sneaking into the Slytherin common room, James had run up the stairs and ran back down a second later with a piece of long cloth in his hand that was oddly colored.

"What's that?" Reed asked narrowing her eyes. It was never a good thing when James had something no one else had seen in his hands, because it was normally a bad thing.

"It is my cloak of invisibility!" James said excitedly flourishing it around. As he pulled it over his shoulders his body disappeared, leaving only his head left bobbing in the air.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asked jumping out of the loveseat, she ran over to James to inspect it, lifting it up, and twisting it, "This is amazing, we were learning about them in my magical artifacts class! There are only a handful of them that are actual good quality…where did you get it?" Lily asked again excitedly.

"I-It was my dads." James said, his face turning pink at Lily's attention.

"It was Dad's?" Reed asked, she had obviously never seen it, much less heard of it before that day.

"Well…yeah. It was in their will." James said uncomfortably.

"Oh…" Reed said slowly, "I wonder why he never showed it to us?"

James shrugged his shoulders, "Who cares, we get to use it now. You, Ruby, and Lily can use the cloak, since all three of you can fit under it. Prongs, Moony, and I will just have Lily cast invisibility charms on us."

Lily nodded, "I can do that."

Four minutes had passed, all three boys were invisible and the three girls were safely under the cloak, invisible to everyone around them. Reed, Ruby, and Lily walked into the hallway first, to make sure no one was coming, and then the boys followed. After about fifteen minutes of dodging people in the hallways, on the staircases, and in the dungeons, the six finally made it to the Slytherin common room, and then they waited.

They didn't wait long though, because soon, Severus Snape was at the front of the common room door, whispering the password to the house portrait. The six of them sneaked in behind him, walking as fast and as quietly as they could. Once all of them were in, the portrait closed shut.

"This place is so creepy." Ruby whispered to the two other as she took in their surroundings.

The light in the common room wasn't like theirs. Theirs came from enchanted candles and chandeliers that were hanging from the ceiling that had a nice goldish glow to it. The light in here, had a greenish glow to it. All of the chairs, sofas, and loveseats were black leather, and the area rugs, all green with grey fringe on the end, were covering the grey cobblestone-like floors.

"It looks like a damn torture chamber in here." Lily scoffed looking at all the leather couches and grey colored walls.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about being tortured." Reed hissed poking Lily in the ribs.

"Stop!" Lily whispered, trying not to laugh, "We're going to get caught!"

Severus, who was still just feet in front of them, turned his head to look back at them, decided nothing was there, and walked further into the common rooms. Still following him, he led them into another room, connected to the main common room by a small, narrow hallway. They were led into an even more spacious room, one that was almost bigger then their whole common rooms put together.

Right smack dab in the middle was a large fountain, an ornament in the shape of five or six snakes intertwined with each other in the middle, water spouting out of each of their mouths. The three girls walked up closer to get a good look, the bottom of the shallow pool was lined in silver leaf.

"What the hell?" Ruby asked looking at the other two, "We don't have a fountain."

"We have carpet in our common room, it would be illogical to have a fountain." Lily scoffed, like this was common sense.

"Whatever, we still don't have a fountain…" Reed mumbled to herself.

"We don't have one of those either…" Ruby said nodding towards the ceiling.

Lily and Reed looked up. The whole ceiling was made from glass. Towering up in a dome shape. They could see the bottom of the lake, and all the normal things a lake would have, like seaweed and dirt, small seashells and snails, but they could also see mermaids swimming around at fast speeds.

"We don't live under a lake either." Lily said again.

"I'm still jealous." Ruby sighed, and then she gasped.

A large pinkish thing floated over them, it had ten tentacles from what the three of them could count, although they were sure there were more. Its spear shaped head was lying almost flat against one side of the glass dome, and its big basketball sized eye was starring down at them.

"The giant squid!" Ruby squealed excitedly.

"I've never actually seen it before…" Lily said slowly, starring in awe at it.

"Who cares, we're losing Snape," Reed said as she pushed them forward, towards where Snape was heading.

He stopped at a staircase. Looked behind him again, waved it off and began walking up. Lily looked a little nervous, while Ruby started laughing.

"Won't this be exciting?" Ruby asked as they started walking up the boy's dorm stairs.

"I really don't want to go up there." Lily sighed, but Reed was pulling them forward, and if she stayed where they were, the cloak would have fallen off of her, and she would have been caught.

Once they were in the dorm room, they hid in a corner nearest to the door, in case they needed to make a quick get-away, "Today must be kill a first-year day." Ruby mocked as they looked at the gathering Slytherins, most of them seventh years, but there were a mix of fifth and sixth years as well.

"Do you think the others made it in?" Lily whispered, worried that they were alone, she felt a soft nudge in her side though, and knew it was James.

"What's taking her so long?" One of the seventh years asked impatiently.

As soon as he had finished saying it, Francesca walked into the boy's common room, the door slamming behind her. She was wearing black robes that were lined with emerald satin. They were flowing behind her in waves. Her hair was pulled back into a difficult looking knot, curled at the back of her head, a few pitch tresses falling over her shoulders. She looked like she was going to a party, one only rich people attended.

"She must have just gotten back from visiting mommy and daddy in jail." Ruby laughed quietly.

Francesca stopped walking and looked back at the corner the three girls, and now, the three boys were hiding in. She shook her head, and continued walking towards the group of Slytherins. Once she got there, she looked at the seventh year boy whom had asked where she was, and in a blink of an eye, she had back-handed him.

"It doesn't matter where I've been, or how long I've been there, so don't ask," She looked at Snape and smiled sweetly, "The point is that I'm here now, and we can get this started."

Francesca pulled out a large grey colored stone slab from out under the bed nearest to her. It was raised by two small grey pillars, with a small pendulum hanging from the center. Little green jewels were set in it making small waves, a snake was carved into the side, emeralds for the eyes.

She slipped the sleeve of her robes up, and pressed down on something on her wrist, Lily and the others couldn't quite make it out from where they were huddled though. In a few more seconds, a small silverish light was protruding from the slowly swinging pendulum.

The light was starting to form a shape, Lily could see it starting to take the shape of a body, about six inches high. The shape was settling on top of the flat slab, and soon they could see a face form. It was a man, no older then fifty maybe, his hair was as dark as Francesca's, and his skin was almost as pale as the silver light that had formed him. His eyes were small, narrowed. His lips set in a straight line.

"Who is that?" Reed asked looking at Lily and Ruby.

"I don't know, but for an old guy, he's not that bad looking." Ruby laughed quietly.

"Shut-up, I'm trying to hear what they're saying." Lily said focusing on the group now.

"My Lord!" Francesca said doing a sort of half curtsey, half bow.

"No need for that Francesca, we are after all, friends correct?" the voice that came out of the small man on the slab was thin, a sort of hiss.

"My Lord, I am eternally grateful for such kind words." Francesca said, a wide smile on her face.

"I would however; like to get down to discussing what I came here to discuss."

"Of course my Lord," Francesca said smiling even wider, "As you already know, there are ten entrances to the castle. Two of those are secret ones that originate from Hogsmeade. Only the main entrance though is guarded, and only at certain times, depending on the security threat to the school."

"Good, you've done well… out of curiosity Francesca, how many teachers are at the school now?"

"There are twenty-four in the school, not including that big oaf Hagrid, the stupid idiot Filch, and the squib who teaches Muggle studies."

"Have there been any… difficulties there, any at all?"

Francesca thought about it, "No, none that I can…" But Severus interrupted her.

"My Lord, there are some students that have been causing some trouble for us over the last two or so years. Ones, that may not now be threats, but in due years could cause quite a bit of a hassle."

"And who would these pests be Severus?" he asked, an intrigued look on his face.

"Potter. James Potter and his friends." Severus said quickly.

"Names Severus, please."

"His sister, Reed Potter, the werewolf Remus Lupin, Ruby Taylor, and Sirius Black."

"Oh, the Black boy? I wasn't expecting that one, well it can't be helped."

"My Lord, there is one more." Francesca said quickly, before they got off of the subject.

"It seems Hogwarts is full of insolent children these days, nothing like when I was in school, who is it my dear?"

"A Mud-blood, Lily Evans."

"She is no problem to you My Lord, someone easily dealt with, do not trouble yourself with it." Severus said sending a nasty look at Francesca.

"Well if you say so, I will trust you."

"But My Lord, she runs with the Potter boy." Francesca said, desperate to get Lily in all of this.

"She. Is. No. Problem." Severus said again, his rising anger palpable to the others in the room.

"I will go on Severus's opinion for the time being, if one of you can deal with her…?"

"I will, My Lord." Francesca said in a sweet voice.

"I would rather dirty my hands, why make her, I don't come from Noble blood, we wouldn't want all of the Corleones out of commission, now would we?"

"Of course, Severus you can deal with her. Francesca, don't worry one hair on your head about it. It's just a Mud-blood, easily dealt with. I'll leave you now, I have things I must tend to." And just like that, the small body disappeared back into the swinging pendulum.

"All of you can leave now." Francesca said looking Severus, and no one else. They all filed out of the dorm as quickly as possible, not wanting to be back-handed like the first one. Once they were all gone Francesca let her furry go.

"What the hell do you think you were doing!" She yelled angrily, "Do you enjoy undermining me in front of our Lord? Do you think that it was funny? Please, help me understand!"

"I was merely suggesting, that I could deal with it better then you could, considering your fragile temperament at the present."

"And how would you deal with it Severus? Would you like to go hide her away somewhere where we can't find her? Because you know I would love to kill her right now!"

"That won't be necessary, since he gave that job to me, I would hate to tell him you disobeyed direct orders."

"You wouldn't dare." Francesca said, her voice dripping with intense hatred.

"I wouldn't? I'm not so sure, if you think so." And with that he turned around on his heel and went to storm out of the room, but not before Lily could sneeze, loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Francesca whipped out her wand, pointed it at the corner and let out a spell, a combative one of course. It hit the wall right above Lily's head. The force of it whipping the cloak off of their shoulders and sending it to the ground by their feet.

"You filthy little Mud-Blood!" Francesca yelled, not even paying attention to Ruby or Reed, her eyes set strictly on Lily.

"I will take care of her!" Severus yelled loudly, his voice echoing through the dorm, "If you touch her, do not think I would hesitate to call the Dark Lord back up."

"Then deal with her before I do." Francesca snapped.

Severus grabbed Lily's arm, nodded for the other two to follow him, and dragged her down into the main entrance to the common rooms. He stopped pulling on her arm when they were in front of the entrance.

"I don't know what the three of you were doing in here," he started, his voice low, "But what you heard or saw, you'd better forget for your own safety. I cannot save you again Lily, do you understand me?" Lily couldn't say anything really, so she just nodded her head slowly, "Now get out before I change my mind." When the girls had all exited the common room, Severus snarled, "All six of you!" he could hear the shuffling of feet as James, Remus, and Sirius ran out behind the girls.

Once the six of them were safely out of the dungeons, and on the first floor, the invisibility charms on the three boys wore off. They all stood silent for a few seconds, saying nothing to anyone before Reed asked a question.

"…Was that…was that who I thought it was?"

Lily looked at her, her skin was pale, and her eyes were slightly wide with fear or something close to it. She looked back down at the ground, giving someone else the chance to answer her question.

No one said anything, but James nodded his head slowly, "We need to get back to the common rooms now."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ruby said after another awkward silence moment.

A few hours later, the light shining through the windows had turned grey, and then black with night. Everyone was sitting on one of the couches, silent as they had been for the four hours before then. Reed sighed; the silence was beginning to irritate her.

"We should tell Dumbledore." She said finally, looking at the flames that were licking over the wood in the fireplace.

"We shouldn't tell anyone." Lily said, this was the first time she had talked since they had gotten back to their common room.

"Are you serious? Lily what is wrong with you? I realize you're scared, but this is not some stupid school kid fight anymore. This is a life or death type situation, they could be planning something that will hurt other kids!" Reed yelled angrily.

Lily looked over to Ruby for some kind of support, knowing that her family had been tortured by Death Eaters, surely she would understand why they needed to keep their mouths shut.

"I'm sorry Lily, we have to tell someone, and Dumbledore is the perfect person to tell, for all we know, he might have already caught wind of what's going on." Ruby said giving Lily an apologetic smile.

"I have to agree with the others Lily, I'm sorry. If people were to die, and we could have done something about it, I don't think I could live with myself." Remus said after Lily had turned her eyes on him.

"Do you understand the severity of this problem? Do any of you?" Lily asked.

"Lily," James said quietly, comfortingly, "We understand that you're scared, we do. But this is so much bigger then us. We have to tell Dumbledore."

Lily looked at him, she bit her bottom lip nervously, "Fine, but I'm staying right here when you go to tell him."

"Which we're going to go do right now." Reed said taking off towards the fat lady's portrait.

"I'm coming with you!" Ruby said getting off of the couch and following Reed, Remus left his seat as well as Sirius to go with Reed.

Lily looked at James who stayed seated on the loveseat next to her. She narrowed her eyes and hissed at him, "Aren't you going with them? You want to tell Dumbledore too, don't you?"

"I want Dumbledore to know, yes. I don't think it takes five people to tell him though. I'm going to stay right here with you."

"I don't need you to baby-sit me." Lily scoffed.

"I'm not baby-sitting you Lily, I'm giving you comfort. You were scared shitless earlier today, you're still scared, I can tell. To leave you alone would be terrible."

"Yeah, well they all left me alone." Lily grumbled folding her arms over her chest.

"They knew I would stay with you." James said smiling at her, he frowned then, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay…?" Lily was about to say yes, that she was fine, but the question had suddenly brought tears to her eyes, she started sniffling, and the tears started falling, "No! I'm not okay! They were going to kill me James! If Severus hadn't stepped in, I would have been dead, we would have all died! He would have killed you all! And you would have left me!"

James pulled her over to him so that her face was pressed up against his chest. He whispered sweet, calming things in her ear, and rocked her gently back and forth while she sobbed into his chest.

"I won't leave you Lily." He whispered.

"Yes you will!" Lily sobbed.

"No, never. I love you to much. I'll never leave you Lily, ever. I'm staying right here."

Lily seemed to calm down, her loud sobs turning into quiet sniffles, she nodded into his chest, and wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to pull him as close to her as she could.

"I don't understand what you need to bother the head-master with this at this time of night." McGonagall sighed as she led them up the staircase to Dumbledore's office.

"I'm sorry to wake you up Professor, but this is of the utmost importance. We really need to talk to him." Reed said walking beside her up the stair case.

"Well, I'll let you talk to him about whatever it is, here you go," McGonagall knocked on Dumbledore's office door, "Albus, these children need to talk to you."

The door to Dumbledore's office swung open slowly to reveal a large spacious area. Dumbledore was pacing when the door opened. He stopped when they all entered the room. He smiled at them, "Thank you Professor." He smiled at McGonagall and then motioned for the kids to come in further to the office.

"I'll take my leave now." McGonagall said as she left the office, closing the door behind her.

"Professor, we have something we need to tell you!" Reed spat out right after the door closed.

Dumbledore laughed, "Always eager I see Ms. Potter, well what is it that has you so excited?"

"There's a group of Slytherins. Fifth, sixth, and seventh years. They're… they're planning something, we overheard them talking to…" Reed paused.

"Talking to whom, my dear?" Dumbledore asked sitting on one of the carpeted stairs that led up to his desk.

"To… to Voldemort. I sear it was him, they were all calling him Lord and…"

"Oh dear, well this isn't good." Dumbledore said this with a smile on his face.

"This is serious, I'm not joking! We snuck into the Slytherin Common Rooms, and we overheard them! I swear, I'm not lying!" Reed said desperately.

"Oh, I don't think you're lying, not one bit. I believe every word of it."

"Because you already knew…" Remus said slowly.

"Yes, unfortunately, some students don't seem to value their education and time here as much as I would like for them too." Dumbledore sighed.

"Is there anything we can do…to help I mean?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore looked up at the enchanted ceiling, the sky was dark blue with twinkling silver stars, the moon was in one corner of his office, the craters in it clearly visible. He sighed, "Well you'll all be seventeen soon, there is something that you can do."

"Anything!" Ruby said desperate for a chance to avenge her father in any way possible.

"When you turn seventeen you all may join." Dumbledore said smiling at the five four of them.

"Join what…?" Sirius asked hesitantly.

"Why, the Order of the Phoenix of course."

* * *

Uhhhh… Hahahah! I'm not sure why but I find this chapter incredibly amusing for some reason. I was on a caffeine high when I wrote it so maybe that was why…

Okay notes for this chapter!

The order of the phoenix- Everyone I'm sure knows what this is. Although I don't think Dumbledore would really recruit, that's exactly what he's doing haha. Of course he'd never make them join, but giving them the option isn't to horrible either


	21. The New Students of Hogwarts

I'm just going to say right now that time has skipped. Like a lot. Like to the beginning of their 7th year. I could have written more, but the fact that the story would have ended up being like 60 chapters if I had… well I didn't want that many haha. Anyways nothing has changed much the only thing you need to know is their 7th years but Reed is the only one who hasn't turned 17 yet. Okay and on to the chapter

Chapter 21

"God, that is so disgusting." Ruby said cringing as she, Reed, Remus, and Sirius were all sitting on the cream colored couch in her living room.

School had been out for almost a month. Lily and James had been officially "making out" for four, since Lily still refused to call it an actual relationship. Now, at the present, they were snogging, at the top of Ruby's staircase, not knowing that there were four pairs of eyes watching them.

"I can't believe them. They hated each other like two years ago, now they can't stay away from each other. It just doesn't make sense to me." Ruby said watching them.

"I always knew they would get together." Reed said looking down at her book, even though a part of her wanted to watch and see how long they could suck face without coming up for air, they had been going for about a minute now.

"You always knew? Yeah, sure." Sirius laughed.

"No really, I knew since they made out at my house after my parent's funeral." Reed said, still reading her book.

"Wait, they made out at your parents funeral?" Sirius asked, his voice raised an octave.

"No! They made out after the funeral." Reed said slightly disgusted by the idea that someone would make out at their parent's funeral.

There was a loud pop as group of people appeared out of no where in the middle of Ruby's living room. They were all older wizards and witches, six or eight of them, Ruby couldn't tell since their black robes all blended in with the other.

"And so it begins." Ruby said sighing as she and Sirius got off of the couch.

"Aren't you going?" Reed asked Remus, who was sitting next to her on the couch.

"Well… if you want me to stay here…"

"It's not my fault you all are seventeen, and I'm still a lowly 16 year-old. Have fun." Reed said kissing him on the cheek as he got up off the couch and followed the others into the sitting room where the order was meeting for the second time that week.

Lily came skipping down the stairs then, James following her closely behind. She looked at Reed sitting on the couch alone, her arms crossed over her chest. Lily smiled apologetically at her, and continued on, going to the sitting room.

"Sorry Reedy." James said sadly as he followed Lily through the hallway and into the sitting room, leaving Reed alone in the living room.

It wasn't too much longer until Andromeda Tonks had apparated into the room, in front of the couch where Reed was sitting, she had Nymphadora in her arms. She smiled when she saw Reed sitting alone on the couch.

"Oh good! You wouldn't mind terribly much if I had you watch Dora would you?" Andromeda didn't even wait for Reed's reply, she handed her Nymphadora, and then disappeared into the sitting room with the others.

"Reed!" Nymphadora said happily, now six years old, she could talk better then she had a year and a half ago. Her hair was purple, but when she laid eyes on Reed, her hair grew out into the blond curls she had copied the first time they had met each other.

"I guess we're not alone anymore huh?" Reed asked holding Nymphadora on her lap, "Come on, we'll play pretend again."

It was about an hour later, and four or five games of pretend when the order was finally done with their meeting. Reed and Nymphadora were busy playing Muggle zoo when Remus, Ruby, Lily, Sirius, and James met her back in the living room.

"Why doesn't she like me as much as she likes you?" Sirius asked as they watched them finish up their game of Zoo.

"Because I'm nice to her." Reed said sticking her tongue out at him, she picked Nymphadora up and placed her on her shoulders, "Maybe if you'll play with her more, then she would actually like you."

"You are going to make one great mother." Lily said happily, "If I ever have children…"

"When we do have children." James said, correcting her.

"Anyways, when I have children, you can baby-sit every single day if you want!" Lily said giggling.

"She'd be too busy with her own litter of puppies." Sirius laughed.

There was an awkward silence after he had said it. Reed and Remus's faces grew red, "I'm not going to have a hoard of children," Reed said, "Maybe a few…"

"Not like Molly." Ruby said.

"How many does she have now?" Sirius asked out of curiosity.

"Three, Bill, Charlie, and Percy." Lily said, she had sent cards for every one of them.

"How sad…" Sirius said lamely.

"Come on, we need to get ready to leave for the train." Reed said finally, they had about four hours until they had to be there, and none of them had packed yet.

"I can't wait!" Ruby said suddenly, "Did you hear they're doing something this year?"

"Doing what?" James asked.

"I don't know, but it's supposed to be awesome!" Ruby said excitedly running up the stairs to pack her stuff.

"By now I am sure you all have heard something about things at Hogwarts changing this year," Dumbledore said, a happy but mysterious smile on his face, "Well I am here to tell you that they are true, things are going to change…our school is going to be host to another Wizarding school over in the United States of America."

"The United States… that's what's going on? We're getting exchange students? I am so disappointed." Ruby said sighing putting her head down on the table.

"We are receiving a whole class of seventh years from the Flamel Academy. They will be sorted like you were when you first years, so please treat each and everyone of them with respect."

It was then when the doors to the Great Hall opened and older teenagers started filing in. There were two lines of them, maybe thirty kids in each line. All of them had on black robes. Under the robes the boys were wearing black pants, black sweater-vest with gold detailing on the collar, they wore white shirts underneath the vest with black ties that had gold stripes on them.

The girls were wearing vary similar uniforms, but instead of pants they were wearing skirts and instead of ties they had black silk ribbons with gold stripes tied around their collars. All in all they were a very impressive sight, sort of intimidating to be honest.

"I like these American boys." Ruby said whistling at some of them as they passed by.

"The girls aren't bad looking either," Sirius said teasing Ruby, "What do you think Moony?"

Remus looked up at them, he had been paying attention to the crowd that was gathering in the Great Hall and hadn't been paying attention to the conversation going on around him, "What?"

"What do you think about the American girls?" James repeated.

"I don't know yet. I haven't met any of them." Remus said.

"Dear god, it's not even fun with you anymore, you are so whipped." Sirius said staring at him wide-eyed.

"What's not fun anymore?" Remus asked thoroughly confused.

"Never mind." James said sighing as the first of the Flamel Academy students was getting sorted.

It was a girl, she had bouncy brown curls that went way past her shoulders, green eyes that shinned brightly, and freckles that spread over the bridge of her nose. She had a wide smile on her face, clearly excited to be there. The Sorting hat was placed on her head and in two seconds it had shouted out, "Gryffindor!" you could hear her gasp of relief as she jumped down from the podium and nearly skipped to the Gryffindor's table, she plopped down next to Reed and smiled at her.

"Elizabeth Avery, nice to meet you!" She smiled brightly, "But you can call me Tizzy."

"Tizzy…?" Reed asked slowly.

"Oh, cause I'm always in a tizzy. Haha, isn't that funny?" She smiled at Reed again, and giggled.

"Oh yeah, so funny." Reed said laughing sarcastically.

"Oh my goodness, your accent is so cute!" Tizzy said.

"If you think hers is cute," Sirius said in a low tone, "You should hear mine."

"I'd rather not." Tizzy said turning back to Reed, "So is school here fun? I bet it is!"

"Sorry mate, guess you're not her type." James said laughing loudly.

They turned back around, Tizzy shutting up long enough for them to hear the next person getting sorted. He was a tall boy, probably around 6' 2" or so. He had shaggy blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"God I hope he's in Gryffindor." Ruby said smiling widely.

"Accio hot guy!" Lily said waving her wand around jokingly.

"You don't have to summon one, I'm already here." Sirius said.

"Don't kid yourself." Ruby scoffed.

"Slytherin!" The hat yelled as the boy got up from the podium and walked over to the Slytherin table.

"Damn, what a waste." Ruby sighed, "What a cute butt," she added as he walked past their table.

"What? I don't have a cute fanny?" Sirius asked, a mock look of hurt on his face.

"Oh it's cute, I just see it all the time, I'm used to it by now." Ruby said leaning over and pinching his butt.

"God, that is so disgusting." Lily said shaking her head.

"Hey, Tizzy? What was that guys name?" Reed asked pointing to the guy whom had just been sorted into Slytherin.

"Better look out Remus, your girlfriend here is in the market for another boyfriend." James said nudging him in the side, Remus just scoffed.

"That guy's name is Alex Emerson he's really popular with the girls at our school, a total cutie. Even though he won't date any of the girls at our school." Tizzy huffed, Reed had a feeling she was one of those girls he had turned down.

Again they had quieted down for another sorting. It was a girl, a blond bombshell in the purest of sense. She was tall with long legs that seemed to go on and on forever. Her eyes were crystal clear and blue, her lips full and bow shaped.

"Now here is someone who should be sorted into Gryffindor." James said jokingly.

"Oh yes, because she is definantly filled with courage." Lily said folding her arms across her chest.

Instead of Gryffindor though, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Tizzy had information on her as well it seemed, "That's Marion Osgood, she has the highest grades our school."

"Who is that boy Tizzy?" she asked as another boy walked up onto the podium.

"Huh? Oh that's Oliver Young. He's a real quiet kid, keeps to himself mostly. He's tied with Marion for highest marks and all, but it comes to him naturally, she has to study like its nobodies business."

Oliver Ashford was sorted into Hufflepuff, which was surprising given Tizzy's information on him. He passed the Gryffindor table and eyed Tizzy and Reed for a moment before moving on.

"And with that, I would like to welcome the Flamel Academy for witchcraft and Wizardry to our humble school. And now, dig in!" Dumbledore said the plates on the tables turned over with piles of food on them.

"Oh wow!" Tizzy said obviously delighted, "This looks wonderful!"

"Guess what? It's artificial and it's made from the nasty parts of the animals." Lily said narrowing her eyes at Tizzy, Tizzy seemed to find that a good time to act normal instead of happy.

Reed couldn't help but laugh at Lily's straightforwardness. It was rather amusing. Reed looked over to her other side at Remus then. He was sitting quietly, poking at his food rather slowly. The look on his face was a mixture of bored and tired.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked touching his shoulder lightly.

Remus jerked his head up, like he had been surprised at her touch and nodded, "Yeah I'm fine, why?"

Reed shook her head, "Nothing just asking." She went back to her own plate of food then.

"And then we get to dance this weekend!" Ruby said shimmying in her seat.

"Dance?" Tizzy asked perking up again after Lily's snide remark.

"Oh yeah! It's going to be great!" Ruby said bumping hips with Sirius.

"This is a disaster." Ruby muttered as the Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw students sat in the Great Hall watching Professor McGonagall stare at them, picking out her victim.

"Potter!" She yelled looking at James.

"M-me?" James asked looking a little nervous, "I'm flattered Professor, but I have a girlfriend already. You would so be my second choice though!" He said smiling at her.

"Get down here now before your house doesn't have any points left." McGonagall steamed, getting a loud laugh out of Francesca who was sitting on the end of the Hall.

"Ms. Corleone, why don't you come up here as well."

Francesca's face froze in a look of disbelief, "But Professor, I…"

She was interrupted by McGonagall who was in no mood to take any students shit today, "Get up here now, before Slytherin doesn't have any points left either, and Hufflepuff will win the house cup."

"That would be a shame." Sirius muttered as Francesca stomped over to where the other two were standing.

"Is it just me, or does she like to put us in emotional pain?" Reed asked watching McGonagall force James to put his hand on Francesca's waist.

"She enjoys it way to much." Ruby said agreeing.

"I find it hilarious actually." Lily said laughing at the sight of her boyfriend and Francesca hand in hand, and waist to waist.

"A teacher really wouldn't terrorize students for fun would she?" Tizzy asked, her expression was that of pure horror.

"You should try detention," Remus said taking his turn to mess with Tizzy that day, "They make us hunt animals in the Dark forest."

Tizzy's green eyes widened even further then they normally were. She turned back in her seat and watched the rest of the dance lesson in silence. Lily high-fived Remus under the table.

"This is ridiculous." Francesca muttered as McGonagall forced the two of them to waltz around the room.

"Your face is ridiculous." James said, finding his joke quite funny, he laughed.

Francesca let him spin her, but when he pulled her back in, she raised her knee a little, and hit him right in the groin, "Bet that felt ridiculous too, huh?" she asked her eyes narrowed.

"At least I'm not sleeping with an eighty year old man." James said looking her straight in the eye as he pulled her a little more tightly then he should have.

"How dare you speak of him like that! I could kill you right here on the spot you know!" Francesca snarled quietly, stepping on James's foot with her high heel.

"Is it just me," Ruby asked, "Or does it look like they're discreetly trying to hurt each other?"

"No, they're trying to hurt each other." Sirius said yawning, "I think Francesca is winning at the moment too."

"Okay that's enough!" McGonagall yelled as Francesca elbowed James in the side when he was turning her around, "Dance lessons are over. I expect all of you got something out of this today. I don't want to see any of you acting or dancing obscenely when I just taught you a perfectly respectable dance!" And with that she stormed out of the Hall, realizing that no one had taken her seriously at all.

These chapters are going to kind of go by fast. I would like to explain the dance lessons. Obviously they're going to have a dance as a sort of welcome to the new students from America

Anways, the students from America don't play a large role, but they do cause some tension and some fun times. The ones you'll end up hearing the most about are Alex Emerson, Tizzy, and Oliver just to let you know. So there you are chapter 21 is done!


	22. Break Even

Don't you love it when I have three chapters out in one day? I know I do hahaha. I'm actually trying to finish this up within the next few months, hopefully in February sometime, preferably in the beginning of the month. There's about 20 more chapters… so look forward to those!

Oh, please review! They make my day when I'm having a bad one, and not to sound whiney, but I'm having a bad one… hah… ^^;

Chapter 22: Break Even

Reed sighed as she trudged through the book cases in the Library. Her seventh year at Hogwarts was turning out to be the best so far, but the N.E.W.T.S. where something she could defiantly do without. Pulling another book off of the shelf Reed groaned, realizing it was another five pound book. How much information could they put in these things anyways?

Making her way over to an empty table, Reed dropped the four books she was carrying, making the Library echo with a loud BAM! Reed closed her eyes, her face getting red. She looked around and found that no one else was near her, so thankfully no one else had heard the noise.

"You know if you're angry you shouldn't take it out on the poor books." Reed snapped her head around to look at whoever had just talked to her.

Leaning against the edge of one of the book shelves was a one Alex Emerson, the American boy whom had been sorted into Slytherin weeks ago. He was overall a very attractive boy Reed mused as she looked him up and down. Ruffled blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a lithe but muscular frame, no wonder half, no all, of Hogwarts girls were going gaga over him. If Reed didn't have a boyfriend, she'd probably be chasing after him as well.

"Sorry, I'm just stressed…" Reed muttered not exactly sure what to say to him, he had been here a couple of weeks, and she hadn't said one word to him, mostly because he had been sorted into Slytherin, and also because there was always a hoard of girls around him at all times.

Alex smiled widely, stretching across his whole face. Reed flushed, what did he think was so funny? He took a few strides over to the table, and pulled out a chair. He looked at her expectantly, and she delicately set herself down. Alex pushed the chair in and then pulled out a chair opposite of her and sat down.

Reed opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing when he cut her off first with a question, "What's your name?"

Reed wasn't sure whether or not to be offended, then again he had only been here a little less then a month, of course he wasn't going to know her name, "It's Reed, Reed Potter."

"What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor"

"What's your favorite color?"

"I highly doubt that you need to know that," Alex gave her a look that said he needed to know very much she sighed, "fine it is blue."

"What do you want to be when you graduate?" And so the questioning went on. Reed was asked her favorite animal, class, food, book, movie, sport, pretty much everything he could have asked about her.

"Is there a reason that you're asking me all of this?" Reed asked, starting to get quite annoyed with the American boy.

He looked away a little, smiling, but looking ashamed at the same time, "I uh, just wanted to hear you talk."

Reed hadn't been expecting that. Hear her talk? What did that mean? She had a sudden thought that Alexander Emerson may be a stalker. Great, now she had herself an American stalker, how wonderful.

"It's just that," He continued pausing for a few moments, "Your accent is nice to listen to. And I've seen you around school, and you seemed like a really nice girl…" He was still blushing.

Her accent? That's why he wanted her to talk? Reed started to laugh, that was absolutely ridiculous, everyone in this school had an accent, he must have heard them every single day, so why was hers so important.

"Hey don't laugh!" but he was laughing too, so it didn't really matter.

"I think it should be my turn now." Reed said smiling.

"Your turn?" Alex asked, confused.

"Yes, since we're playing 20 questions, I get to ask some too, don't I?"

Alex looked surprised, but his megawatt smile soon spread across his face, "Ask away!" he said leaning back in his chair.

"Where did you grow up?"

"Raleigh, North Carolina."

"That's on the coast right?" Reed had never been good at Geography, especially American Geography.

Alex laughed, "The state is, not the town."

"Do you have siblings?" Reed asked next, she was only on question two and was already trying hard to think about ones that he hadn't asked her.

"I have four actually, they're all older then me. Caroline is the oldest, then Maggie, Emmy, and finally Vanessa."

"Four girls?" Reed was astounded, so he was the only male in his family.

"Yep, I'm the baby," He smiled, "They're all crazy though, Caroline and Maggie are already married though so I only have to deal with Emmy and Nessa."

"Are they all magical?" Reed asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, we're all purebloods. Never had anyone in the family who wasn't," Alex smiled like he was reminiscing about something.

"What about your parents?" Reed asked.

"Mom is working at the American branch of the ministry of magic, and my father died a couple years ago." Alex muttered.

"Oh…" Reed suddenly felt ashamed of asking him about his parents, "My parent's are both dead. They died last year…"

Alex gave her an apologetic smile, "I understand how that feels," He reached across the table and held her hand, "I know this sounds totally cliché, but time does make it better. Only a little, but it does."

Reed smiled, she was thankful for the niceness he was showing her, she was sure he was going to be a complete idiot and asshat, but Alexander Emerson had turned out to be more like her then she had thought. That made her wonder why he had been put in Syltherin, maybe it was a fluke, because he was a pureblood. She blushed when she realized that his hand was still clasping his.

Across the Library and being very nosy were two of Reed's best friends. Lily Potter and Ruby Taylor. Standing behind a bookshelf, some of the books taken out so they could spy through the shelf Lily and Ruby were watching the scene playing out between the new American wizard and Reed.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Ruby asked as she watched them start laughing.

"I don't know… I don't like it though. He was sorted into Slytherin, there has to be a reason why." Lily muttered.

"Lily, not everyone sorted into Slytherin is a bad apple. Sirius almost got sorted into Slytherin and I don't think he would have turned out any differently."

Lily sighed, "I suppose so," she took one more glance at the two of them as Alex slid over to Reed's side of the table and opened one of the books that was resting on the edge, "Don't you think he's getting a little to close though?"

"I don't know, it just looks like he's being friendly Lily."

"Still how do we know he isn't an American version of a death eater? Are there death eaters in America?"

"There are." The two girls turned around suddenly, gasps coming out of their throats. Tizzy was standing right behind them.

"Merlin where did you come from?" Ruby gasped trying to catch the breath that was scared out of her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you guys," She smiled apologetically, "Anyways; there are death eaters in America. We've had problems with them as well. Actually, Alex's father was killed by a death eater trying to protect the branch of the ministry over there."

Lily and Ruby were silent. The boy's father was killed by a death eater? The boy who was sorted into Slytherin? That just didn't make sense to them. Tizzy sighed as she watched Reed and Alex from where she was standing.

"You know," She said after a few moments of silence, "We all know each other. The kids in my class I mean. We all grew up with each other. There are schools in America for wizards who are young. It's like an elementary school, only for wizards." Lily and Ruby looked at her confused, Elementary school? What was she talking about? "Anyways, we've all went to school with each other since we were five, and Alex has always been a really great guy. Always really nice to everyone. I don't really understand, but everyone seems to steer clear of the Slytherins at this school?"

Lily and Ruby nodded, "The Slytherins are normally really foul people," Ruby sighed.

"That's why I don't understand why Alex was sorted into that house. He's a great guy, really. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Actually, I think Reed's brother is more violent then him," Tizzy laughed.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked getting offended.

"I mean that he looks like he's about to kill poor Alex."

Lily and Ruby turned to see James standing beside the table that Alex and Reed were studying at. Remus was there as well as Sirius, and neither of them looked to happy. Actually, all three of them looked down right homicidal.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Ruby huffed as she grabbed Lily's hand and stormed off towards the group. As they got closer, they could hear the argument.

"Reed, I told you not to go near him, all of the Slytherins are the same Reedy." James told her, his face getting red with anger.

"Merlin James, he was just helping me study! And it was actually working; I was actually understanding some of this!"

"What he was doing was making a pass at you." Remus muttered darkly, starring the blond-haired American down.

"Oh not you too!" Reed yelled indignantly.

"Really, I wasn't trying to cause any harm, I swear, scout's honor." Alex held up a hand.

"Scout's honor? What does that even mean?" Sirius asked.

"Well in America there's this thing called Boy scouts," but he was cut off by James.

"Who cares what it means. I want you to stay away from my sister. Don't look at her, don't talk to her. Don't even think about her."

"James stop it!" Reed nearly yelled, trying to keep her voice down since they were in the Library.

"James! Seriously, they weren't doing anything!" Lily said as she and Ruby walked up to the group.

"How do you know?" James snarled, "He could have done something to her if we hadn't shown up."  
"I seriously doubt that." Alex said, a smile on his face, Remus sent him a glare, and it quickly turned into a frown.

"We were here the whole time… spying on them. All they did was talk." Ruby admitted ashamed.

Reed's face contorted into anger, "you guys were spying on me!"

"We were only trying to keep you safe Reed!" Lily argued quickly.

"No you were trying to butt in! What is it with you guys; do you think I can't protect myself? Or poor little crybaby all she ever does is cry and feel sad for herself. Well I'm tired of it!"

"Reed, I'm sure they were just trying to help," Alex said comfortingly.

"Mate, just shut up." Sirius said.

Alex held his hands up in mock surrender. Reed smiled at him for a millisecond before she turned her attention back on her friends and family.

"I'm tired of you all babying me! I can take care of myself! Stop trying to weasel into my private life. I can make friends with whoever I please."

"Reed, I really just think I know what's best for you though," As soon as James said it, he regretted it. He hadn't meant for it to sound like that.

"YOU DO NOT!" Reed yelled, "You are just trying to control my life for some reason!" She took a deep breath, "Just stop it already! I'm tired of it!" she looked at Alex, "I'm sorry about what happened."

"It's cool, your brother is just a typical older brother."

Reed flashed him a thankful smile before she grabbed her bag and stomped off towards the Gryffindor common rooms. Lily, Sirius, Ruby, Remus, and James took off after her. Only after James, Sirius, and Remus had given Alex a dirty look as they passed. Alex sighed as he picked up the scarf Reed left behind on the chair. Well at least now he'd have a reason to see her again. He smiled as he tucked it into his bag, now he had something to look forward to.

"Reed please just listen to us!" Lily nearly screeched as they stumbled into the Common Rooms.

"I am tired of listening to you guys! I'm done!" Reed yelled throwing her bag on one of the plush couches.

"Reed, please, we were just trying to protect you! You have no idea what he could have done to you!" Remus tried pleading with her.

Something in Reed broke, and everyone could see it. Her eyes grew angry and her face contorted into something it never had before, plain and utter fury. She balled her hands up into fists and spoke in very clenched and rigid words.

"I am done with all of you mothering me," She looked at Remus then, "And I am not a possession. I am a living human who can make friends with whoever she wants."

"Just not him, please." Remus begged, which had been the exactly wrong thing he could have said.

"We're done." Reed said as calmly as if she were talking to them about the weather.

"What?" Remus looked confused, he wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.

"I said we're done, you and I are done. I'm finished with this whole possessiveness thing it's starting to get old," she took a deep breath, "and not just with you, but with James and Sirius too."

"Reed we were just trying to help!" James tried reasoning with her again.

"**YOU DID EVERYTHING BUT HELP**!" Reed yelled, "Alex is a wonderful person, and he was only helping me study! The three of you should be ashamed of yourselves!" Reed yelled, angry tears threatening to spill out over her cheeks.

Lily and Ruby sighed, apparently they were in the clear then, Reed turned and looked at the two of them, and in a calmer voice said, "I'm still angry at you two for spying, but at least you stood up for him, that's worth something."

"Damn right it is." Ruby muttered under her breath.

"I'm going to go up to my room and study, alone. And then I'm going to bed. Don't bother speaking to me. Any of the three of you. When I decide I'm not angry anymore I'll let you know." And with that she heaved her bag over her shoulder and stomped up the stairs to the girl's dorm.

The five teenagers sat on the couch alone, not saying anything. They all felt kind of awful for what happened earlier. And maybe Reed was right. Maybe they did baby her a little too much. It was only because they cared though, why couldn't she see that. James sighed. She was his baby sister, what was he supposed to do, not be protective. Although, he guessed he could have toned it down a little. Sirius on the other hand wanted to laugh it was so typical of them not to realize they were doing more harm then good. He knew Reed would come around sooner or later, so he wasn't going to worry too much about it. Lily and Ruby were both just thankful that they had been sparred and at the worst Reed would just ignore the two of them for the rest of the night, and would resume talking to them in the morning. Remus however was at a lost for words, even thought ones.

He hadn't meant to act possessive. It had just sounded like that. Really, he didn't care who Reed was friends with, but from his experience, must people who were sorted in Slytherin weren't very nice people. That's all he was trying to say. And now he was girlfriendless… again. How many times had they gone through this? At least three or four times he thought sadly. Why couldn't he just be thankful Reed was his and be the best boyfriend he could? No, he had to go and screw everything up again, and now look where it landed him,

Alone.

Ummm… so how'd you all like it? Anyways, I wanted to post at least three chapters tonight because I'm actually trying to finish this up as soon as I can, I'm thinking that the last chapters will hopefully be up before Valentine's day

I had this chapter all typed out and then I realized for some reason there were big chunks missing out of it. I'm not sure how that happened. My computer hates me, so I had to go back and rewrite it… all over. So now I'm not even sure if this was what I had originally intended, but it was close haha.

Please review it makes me happy


	23. Smile

Four chapters in one weekend! I'm on a roll! Ha-ha. I told you guys I was going to try and post these as soon as I could,

when looking at what I have written already this was supposed to be 41 chapters, but I've elongated the American students Story line so now im thinking all in all it's going to be 44 or 45 chapters, maybe 46 and 47 at the most. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter It gets a little suggestive in the beginning with Lily and James, but nothing to bad, at least I don't think so…

* * *

Chapter 23: Smile

Lily covered her eyes with the back of her hand as the morning light shone through their window. It was too early to be waking up on a weekend. Why couldn't she sleep in like normal people? Sighing, Lily rolled over to look at her other friends. Ruby was spread out over her bed, snoring loudly, the covers half on her and half falling off of the bed. Reed was tucked tight into her bed, only the top of her curly blond head poking out at the top, and one toe was showing at end of the bed.

Lily pushed the comforter off of her and padded over to the bathroom to take a shower. She turned the golden faucets, hopping the squeaking sound wouldn't wake any of the girls who were sleeping. Dipping her hand under the water to check its temperature, Lily decided it was warm enough, actually it was scalding, but she wanted it that way right now, maybe it would wash away all the bad from last night.

Nimbly stepping out of her nighty, Lily tiptoed into shower, letting the hot water wash over her. She closed her eyes and stood there. Maybe everything would be okay now that Reed had had time to think about what happened last night. True, Lily was doing exactly what Reed had gotten angry at them for. She was hopping Reed's passiveness and constant hope for all of them to stay together would make her rethink her anger.

Lily finished washing up and stepped out of the shower, drying herself and her hair as fast as she could. She pulled on black stockings, her knee length gray skirt, and cardigan, pulling a sweater over herself since the early morning was bound to be chilly. Lily tiptoed out of the girl's dorm, careful not to wake anyone.

Speed walking through the school, Lily exited through one of the back doors and made her way out towards the lake. She was heading straight for her favorite spot when all she wanted to do was sit and think about things. There was a huge weeping willow, and not one that tried to kill you, that over looked the lake. It made her feel peaceful when she was sitting under its protective branches.

Pulling them aside, Lily gasped in surprise, she hadn't thought that anyone else would be here, and it had scared her a little when she saw James sitting there with his legs pulled up to his chest, chin neatly resting on his knees. He gave her a glance and patted the ground next to him, a silent request to sit next to him.

Lily nodded, although she wasn't sure why, and made her way over to him and sat. Of course she hadn't even known James was capable of waking up at 6 in the morning. He looked pensive, but his face was laced with worry and concern. Obviously he was thinking about what had happened last night.

"Didn't sleep well?" Lily asked comfortingly.

"Or not at all," James mumbled, Lily was taken aback, he hadn't slept at all? He must be struggling to stay awake now, "I can't believe what an idiot I am."

"You're not an idiot James," Lily said comfortingly, "You want to protect Reed, and we all get that. Sometimes though you lay it on a little thick, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know." James muttered, "I just… I screw every thing up. All I want is for Reed to be happy."

Lily smiled at him, he really was a good older brother, and he was just over protective. Perhaps now he would understand that he couldn't be in every aspect of Reed's life. Sighing, Lily placed her head on his shoulder, her red hair trailing down his arm.

James put his legs out straight and patted his lap. Smiling, Lily positioned herself so her head was on his lap now. That was better, much more comfortable. She closed her eyes and smiled as she felt his hands card through her hair, playing with it gently.

"Hey, Lily?" James asked quietly.

"Hmm?" She was close to falling asleep now.

"I want a straight answer okay?" James asked, his voice sounded timid.

"What's that?" Lily asked, not really caring what he was going to ask, she was much to content right now to be worrying.

"I know right now we've just been messing around, but I'd really like it if you went to that dance with me."

"I thought we were already going," Lily said as she curled up closer to him to get warmer.

"Yeah, but I want you to go as my girlfriend, not the girl I make out with a lot."

Lily tried not to laugh, "Okay."

It was silent for a few moments before James spoke up again, his voice showing some kind of confusion, "Okay? You mean that's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?" Lily asked sitting up to look at him.

"I mean, you aren't going to yell at me, or tell me I'd make a horrible boyfriend?" James asked, he had a loopy grin on his face now.

"Do you want me to get angry?" Lily asked, a small giggle falling past her lips.

"No, no I don't. I like it when you aren't mad at me." James said, smiling.

"I think I am too," Lily mumbled, her voice getting soft as she placed a hand on his shoulder, and the other his upper thigh. She leaned in smiling at him.

James got the idea pretty quick as he gently placed a hand on the back of her head, and used his other to pull her a little closer to him. He could feel her hot breath on his skin now, and it was giving him goose bumps. Lily reached up and took his glasses off and setting them to the side and with that James closed the distance between the two of them.

Of course, they'd kissed before. But for some reason, this felt differently to Lily. This was the first kiss they'd shared as an official couple. It was great, as if being official had made the kiss that much better. Lily grinned against his lips as they moved against her soft petal like ones. James was a great kisser, not that she would admit it since it would only inflame his ego that much more. But she enjoyed the little nips and licks he gave her. Like the lick he was trailing across her mouth right now trying to get her to open hers.

Sighing in contentment, Lily obliged and let his push his tongue in her mouth. It was slowly at first, timid almost. Like he was exploring a place he'd never been before. But as the tentative exploring went on, he got more and more confident that she wasn't going to bite down on his tongue.

She wasn't sure when it had happened, but James had laid her down on the ground, and he was half on top of her. His hands were trailing everywhere they could get, which wasn't a lot of places since her shirt was tucked tightly into her skirt. Deciding to give up on that for the moment being, James was content to start trailing little kisses around her jaw, and then down her throat, which he knew was her soft spot, it absolutely drove her insane.

"Mm, James," She half moaned, her eyes fluttering shut, she arched into his touch, egging him on. She was surprised at how much his touch affected her and all she wanted to feel was his hands all over.

Growling angrily, Lily grabbed the part of her shirt that was tucked into her skirt and tugged so it was out. She could feel James lips contort into a smile as he felt the shirt being un-tucked. And now his hands were free to roam, which they did, happily.

Lily gasped when one hand touched her stomach. It was cold, but soon it warmed up as it trailed down her sides. He was taking way to long to get back to her lips, and they were starting to feel a little lonely now. Lily brought her hands up to his hair and tugged his face back to hers just as he was starting to unbutton the bottom buttons of her white dress shirt.

The war was on as the two of them fought for dominance. This was the part James liked the best. Lily refused to let him gain control easily and the kisses were searing as the two of them gave bruising nips to try and get the other to back off. James smiled as he slipped his hand under her lacey bra.

Gasping Lily broke off the kiss, and James had officially won, "Cheater!" she giggled, not really caring that his hand was still there.

"Hey we never had rules, so how can I cheat?" James smiled as he planted a few kisses to her collar bone, his hands rubbing small circles in the skin just below her breast.

And then they were painfully aware of their surroundings when they heard other voices just outside of the tree. Groaning James pulled away and straightened out his shirt. Lily did the same as she hurriedly tucked her dress shirt back into her skirt.

"I hate everyone." James moaned as he put his face in his hands.

Lily smiled, "Come on we have plenty time for this later," She sighed; she didn't think they would, but oh well, "we should get back inside it's getting colder." James nodded, and followed her inside, maybe today would get better.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it," Alex said as he sat down beside Reed in one of the lounge rooms open for the students.

"Of course he meant it Alex. He's always been like that," Reed sighed, James really had always been very protective.

"But isn't protectiveness just another way of saying I love you?"

"Or I want to mess with your life." Reed muttered, Alex just let out a soft chuckle, "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"I broke up with Remus." Reed said suddenly, it came out quickly.

Alex looked at her, his eyes widening a little, "why would you do that?" he asked genuinely confused.

"Because recently he's been acting just like James, possessive and over-bearing," Reed said sadly settling further into the couch.

"Maybe the two of you should talk about it then?" Alex suggested, "Maybe you'll feel differently once you talk to each other and not yell?"

Reed wasn't so convinced. They had always had these problems. They were always fighting about something or other. True, they had always made up after their fights but still, how many fights could they go through before they reached the breaking point?

"No. I think we kind of did ourselves in this time." Reed said sighing.

Alex smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I thought the two of you seemed like you were so in love."

Reed smiled thankfully at him, "Yeah me too."

"Well hey, at least you have the dance tonight to put your mind off of things." Alex said, trying to cheer her up.

"I'm not going." Reed said almost immediately.

"What? Why?" Alex looked affronted.

"Because, now I don't have a date, and I am not going without a date." Reed said very matter-of-factly.

"Then go with me."

"Yeah like that would," Reed paused as if she hadn't really heard him, "Wait, what?"

"Go with me to the Dance Reed. Really it's not all that hard, all you have to do is say yes, and I'll pick you up at your common room with flowers and a smile, and we'll have a great time," When Reed didn't make a move to say anything Alex continued, "I hear I'm a great dancer, it must be the American in me." He winked.

Reed couldn't help it but she burst out laughing, "You really are American aren't you?"

Alex mocked hurt, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Reed smiled, "Just that you insanely charming," Alex smiled, he doubted that was what she meant, "I suppose I will have to take you up on your offer Alexander Emerson."

"You have no idea how happy that makes me, because for a second there, I thought I wasn't going to have a date," he smiled at her, picked her hand up from her lap and kissed the back of it, "Thanks." And with that Alex Emerson got up and left the lounge.

Reed felt her cheeks heat up. Of course, she wasn't sure if she wanted to start looking at other guys when she and Remus had broken up only the night before, but she was a free woman now, she could do whatever the hell she pleased. With that thought, a wide grin spread over Reed's cheeks.

Then Reed remembered the dance was tonight. Bloody hell she only had a couple of hours to get ready. Reed jumped off of the couch and took off towards the Common Rooms, now happier then she had been for the past couple of days.

* * *

So there you are, chapter 23, which was completely new from the chapter I had originally written because for some reason I'm missing chapters… like they were there and no they aren't haha. Anyways, please review, I would appreciate it very much, I want to reach at least 100 reviews for this fic, so… help me make that happen?


	24. Never say never

Hello! Ugh, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've been in North Carolina for a while and I really didn't have time to write or edit or anything since I was too busy fawning over my two month old little sister 8D

But I apologize I made you guys wait so long, I feel like a horrible person… ummm anyways, just read and review like always!

* * *

Chapter 24: Never say never

"I think I may puke…" James muttered as he watched Alex and Reed walk down the hallway together, going to class, laughing about something or other.

"You've got to let it go mate, I think she's going to stick to him like that glue we charmed." Sirius laughed, "Remember when Lily stood up and it ripped her skirt?" James almost laughed at the memory.

"Ugh, he's touching her now!" James whined as Alex placed a hand on Reed's shoulder, lightly pushing her in front of him so she wouldn't have to struggle through the oncoming traffic of students.

"Really, I think you should be taking this better then Remus…" Sirius sighed.

"I am taking it better then him," James muttered.

Remus had locked himself in the common rooms and had taken to studying like no one's business. He hadn't so much as talked or looked at Reed since she had broken up with him a few days ago. He was starting to loose weight, and was looking like he was about ten years older then he really was. All in all he was throwing himself the biggest pity party known to man or wizard.

"True true, look mate we need to head to class before we're late, we can stalk the two of them another time, besides, Lily and Ruby have the same class as them."

James nodded, "Yeah alright."

Ruby and Lily were currently sitting behind Alex and Reed in their 7th year Advanced potions class. Of course, it looked like they were paying attention, but really they were spying on Alex and Reed. They were sitting and laughing together about a joke Lily and Ruby didn't understand.

"Oh, I'll go get the supplies!" Reed said reading the list on the board.

"Are you sure? I can always go get them…" There were a lot, and he didn't want her to get hurt trying to carry all of it.

"I'll be fine!" She laughed as she collected all of the ingredients into her hands and carefully walked back to the table. Alex took some of the ingredients out of her hands and set them on the table.

When the time came to wait fifteen minutes for the potion to stew, the two of them laughed and joked about everything and nothing at the same time. Reed started animatedly talking about something as she was waving her hands every which way, with Alex laughing the whole time.

"Do you think they're going to the dance together?" Ruby asked.

"Why would you say that?" Lily narrowed her eyes.

"Oh just a feeling."

Lily looked back over to the two of them where Alex was miming some slow dance moves and Reed was silently cheering him on. Really it looked like they were having a good time, and then Reed stood up, and Alex took her hand and twirled her around once. He laughed when she stepped on his foot and started apologizing profusely.

"Oh bloody hell. Remus needs to get his ass in gear!" Lily nearly shouted watching the two of them flirt with each other shamelessly.

"We need to call an emergency Reed meeting during our free block." Ruby agreed.

"What do you mean they're getting too close to each other?" James asked, grumpy.

"I mean if we don't do anything and we don't do something soon, Reed is going to end up getting married to this guy and she'll move to America and away from us for forever!" Lily shouted.

"I thought you liked the guy Lils?" Sirius laughed at her angry expression.

"Well yeah… he's a nice guy, but… I want Reedy and Remus to end up together. Is that so much to ask?"

"Considering she hates me, and it will never happen, yes that's a lot to ask Lily." Remus said surprising them all as he walked into the common rooms behind them.

"When did you get here?" Ruby asked.

"Just now, I was studying in the library but then the two of them came in laughing…" he trailed off.

"Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry." Lily said empathetically.

"It's okay they weren't alone for long. Tizzy, Oliver, Rowena, and that Marion Osgood girl, you know the one sorted into Ravenclaw," Remus sighed.

"Oh yeah," Sirius smiled, "The really hot one!" Ruby just frowned.

"Yes, that one, they seemed to be having a grand old time." Remus muttered darkly, his mood getting increasingly worse.

"Ruby…" Lily started out silently.

"What?" She asked, not sure exactly why Lily looked so shocked right now.

"We're getting replaced…"

"We're what?"

"GETTING REPLACED!" Lily yelled, "She's replacing us! Oh dear lord! She's replacing us with the American versions!"

"She is not replacing us Lily!" Ruby assured her friend, "She's just meeting his friends! Seriously calm down!" Ruby had finally assured Lily they weren't being replaced, but that was before Reed came into the common rooms laughing about something, with the other girls no less.

"So he got stuck to the ceiling for the rest of the day because the staff couldn't figure out how Tizzy had stuck him up there!" Marion Osgood, otherwise known as goddess extraordinaire to James and Sirius had walked in with Tizzy, Rowena, and Reed, laughing about something they didn't understand.

"Oh Merlin! You really stuck Oliver up on the ceiling!" Reed asked her cheeks getting pink from laughing so much.

"It was a complete accident! I hadn't even known I did it!" Tizzy laughed along.

"We've been replaced…" Ruby muttered echoing Lily's earlier fear.

"Oh!" Reed jumped surprised, "I didn't see you guys there!" She smiled then, "Hey Lily, Ruby do you two want to come eat lunch with us down by the Black lake?" Reed asked.

"Oh yes! Please come! Reed has been telling us all about you two! I'm excited I finally get to meet you two!" Marion gushed as she shook the two girl's hands.

"Absolutely!" Lily said excitedly grabbing her jacket.

"I'm in!" Ruby yelled as she followed the girls out of the common room, now all of them were laughing.

"We've just been abandoned by all three of them…" James said in shock.

"I can't believe it…" Sirius echoed the tone.

"I can," Remus grumbled, "I'm going to go study."

"So how's America?" Lily asked as soon as they had met up with Oliver and Alex to sit down and have lunch.

"America is amazing," Marion said happily, "But England is great too! It's just that I miss being able to go to other states and see different kinds of people right in the same country, ya know?"

Lily shook her head vigorously, "Oh I've always wanted to travel!"

"You should defiantly hit up Washington D.C. and go to California, and North Carolina!" Alex added.

"Ew! Don't go to North Carolina! It's to hot there!" Tizzy laughed, "Go to Montana!"

"You're just biased!" Alex teased sticking his tongue out at her, "Don't go to Montana there's nothing there!"

Lily really had to admit it, these kids from America, well at least this group was far more entertaining then she had thought they would be. She had figured they'd be snobs, or think they were too good for the other student's at Hogwarts. But they all seemingly got along with each other, and so well, she wasn't sure how they did it.

"It's because we don't have houses I think." Olivier spoke up.

"What?" Lily asked shocked back into the conversation.

"You asked how we all got along so well." Had she asked that aloud? "I think it's because we don't have houses. We all are just apart of one school, we're all on one team. We all have to work together to get benefits, so we never found time to fight. Of course there's always some kids who tease others and are mean, but not as much as the Slytherins here."

"That… makes sense…" Lily muttered, now that she thought about it, she had noticed only ten kids out of the 100 7th years like themselves had been sorted into Slytherin.

"This is why we all aren't sure how Alex got sorted into Slytherin. He has such a hero complex about helping everyone out, it doesn't make sense." Marion muttered sadly.

"Well, Slytherins have more basic qualities to them!" Reed piped up, "Like ambition, and the whole Slytherin house is almost always pureblood. They're cunning, and they seek power. But sometimes being cunning and ambitious aren't bad things!"

"Well Alex always wanted to take over his father's position at the ministry; I guess that makes him ambitious. And his whole family is pureblood." Oliver said meekly.

"What position did your father hold?" Ruby asked curiously.

"He was Minister of Magic, of America anyways, real good friends with the Minister in Canada…" his voice trailed off as if remembering a far away memory.

"M-minister?" Lily asked somewhat shocked.

"What?" Oliver asked, "You didn't think the British minister was the only one?"

"N-no, I mean I knew there were others but I just didn't really think about it that often… it was never something that concerned me before."

"So your father was minister of America?" Ruby asked slowly, "Blimey… that's big."

"Anyways, what about your parents?" Alex quickly changed the subject.

"Oh, my father's a professional Quidditch player!" Ruby said quickly.

"I love Quidditch!" Marion supplied clapping her hands together.

And so the group began talking excitedly about parents and professions, and what they wanted to do when they got out of school. As all the chattering went along, Alex slipped away to sit down by the lake by himself. When Reed was sure everyone else was too preoccupied with what was going on, she followed him.

Quietly she sat down beside him and pulled her legs up to her chest. She sat with him in silence until finally he spoke, "I'm sorry I left, I just… I get upset when people start talking about their parent's. It's pretty childish of me, I know."

"No, I understand. I mean my parents only died recently. But I know it's going to stay with me for the rest of my life."

"He died protecting us you know."

Reed was surprised at the sudden revelation. Sure she knew Alex's dad had died, but he had never actually told her how, "Protecting who?" she said egging him to continue.

"My Vanessa and I. We were at the ministry visiting him after school one day. I was fifteen at the time. We were all having a good time when the alarms in the building went off. We weren't sure what was going on… but he told us to hide in the closet in his office, so we all did what he said." Alex's eyes glossed over, he looked like he was on the verge of crying.

"That was when the door had blown open. There were three of them. All in black robes. They had these weird masks on, so we couldn't see their faces. They wanted something from my dad, just kept asking for it. I have no idea what they wanted since they only referred to 'it'," Alex sighed, "My dad refused, saying at first he didn't know what they were talking about, and then he switched to, you'll never get it."

"Alex…" Reed really wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to say.

"So when he refused again… they just killed him. I don't think he even saw it coming. They didn't even have the decency to use the killing curse, just something that would make him suffer. He just laid there and looked at us through the closet… mouthing 'I love you' until he finally… just… left."

Reed looked horrified, of course she had lost her parents as well, but she hadn't seen them die before her eyes. She couldn't have imagined how it must have felt for Alex to have to sit there and watch his father die, and to add to it, his poor sister to have to watch as well.

"Alex, I'm so sorry… I had no idea that you had to go through that…"

Alex turned to her, the tears still threatening to fall, but he gave her a smile instead, "It's okay, because whatever they were looking for, they didn't find it." Reed wanted to smile with him because in the end the bad guys hadn't gotten what they wanted, but she was finding it increasingly hard to do so. Especially when the smile on his face was so obviously false, and she could tell all he wanted to do was cry. So Reed did what she thought the only thing she could do was. She kissed him.

At first she was a little surprised at herself. It wasn't like she just went around kissing strangers; but honestly, she didn't care at this moment. All that she cared about was the feel of Alex's lips on her own. How nice it felt when he hugged her close to him, and how she could taste his tears on her lips as they fell down his face at rapid pace.

So instead, she just decided not to care. She through all her rational thoughts to the wind and decided to do what she wanted. And she wanted to keep kissing this wonderful, nice, amazingly funny, broken boy.

"Oh wow…" Marion trailed off, her eyes going wide as she looked down towards the lake.

"Oh wow what?" Ruby asked as they all followed her gaze. Only to land on what was a very preoccupied Reed and Alex.

"I feel like a peeping tom…" Rowena muttered averting her gaze to the ground.

"They look…" Lily couldn't exactly put her thumb on it, besides the fact that they looked like they could care less if the whole world was watching them. Like all they wanted was to be in the other's company. It scared her. It scared her a lot. Remus was loosing Reed. And the way that those two looked, that Reed just wanted to be near him and Alex… Merlin was he crying? It was obvious that Remus may have already lost.

"They look like they're in love." Tizzy finished for her smiling happily, Lily wished she could have felt the same.

* * *

Umm… what did I just write…? Haha. Okay some of you probably want to shoot me, hold your fire! I can't exactly tell you what happens with Alex. I mean I can, but I can't haha. If you are really dying to know, PM me or ask me in your review, and I'll tell you. But otherwise I can't say anything less I ruin the plot ^^;

Umm… anyways… review?


	25. Dance the night away

Ugh. You guys are still going to hate me for this chapter… but you'll like the next one, I promise ;)

Anyways enjoy please ^^

Also, for some reason hates me, and my breaks aren't showing up in the chapters, so I'm using the line dividers right now. I hope this is okay. If it get's to annyoing, let me know and I'll try to do something else :)

* * *

Chapter 25: Dance the night away

It was the day of the dance. Classes had finally ended and Lily, Ruby, and Reed were all in the bathroom that they shared, getting ready. Reed had been giddy and excited all day, and although Lily and Ruby really wanted to not like Alex, they couldn't help but feel good for Reed's happiness.

"Which eye shadow Lily?" Ruby asked holding up two different round cases.

"The goldish one." Lily said pointing to the one in her left hand.

"Good choice." Ruby said putting the other one back while she twisted the top off of the other one and started applying it to her eyelid.

"How does it look?" Reed asked as she stepped out from behind the curtain she was dressing behind.

Neither Lily nor Ruby had seen her dress yet, she had wanted to keep that a surprise too. Lily dropped her mouth open when she saw it, "When did you get that?"

"I was talking to June, and she sent me this by owl." Reed said.

The dress was golden at the top and then faded into white, the spaghetti straps were barely noticeable, but made the dress a little more modest. The beading at the bust gave it a little shine, and the flow made her look like she was floating. Her hair was tied up in an extremely difficult looking knot that only Lily could have done. Little wisps of hair fell around her shoulders.

Ruby had done her hair up too, she had folded it under, giving in the look of a muffin. It would have looked funny on anyone else, but Ruby seemed to pull it off with effortless ease. Her dress was a water blue cap-sleeved floor length gown that.

Lily had on a white deep V neck dress with a ruched waistline; there was lace around the bust. She was going to wear a green one she had, but James had out right told her no, saying that green was strictly a Slytherin color when it came to clothing. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun at the nape of her neck.

"Don't we all look so gorgeous?" Ruby laughed as she finished up her make-up.

"Of course. We always do." Lily said giggling as the three of them went downstairs.

James, Remus, and Sirius were the only ones left in the common rooms, as they were all, albeit Remus, waiting for their dates. Reed giggled excitedly as she heard a quiet knock on the portrait. She rushed forward to answer it.

Alex, Oliver and his date, Rowena Burwell, stood at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Alex looked handsome in his black dress robes. They seemed to fall around him nicely, giving his frame a nice outline. Oliver also looked charming in his dark blue dress robes. Rowena had on a bronze-ish colored dress. Together the two of them made up the Ravenclaw colors. Reed couldn't help but find that cute.

"You look lovely." Alex said taking her hand and walking further into the common room, Oliver and Rowena close behind.

"Hello James," Rowena said as she entered behind them, she sent a genuine smile to Lily then, "Hello Lily."

"You look lovely Rowena." Lily said looking the dress up and down.

James narrowed his eyes a little bit, he wasn't particularly happy with Reed's alternate date choice. But he could live with it, "We should get going now."

"Of course," Alex said, "Ladies first." And with that Reed had latched on to his arm, and they were on their way to their first Hogwarts dance.

"I can't hear myself think!" Reed giggled happily as she, Alex, Rowena, Lily, Ruby, and Oliver danced in a tight space together.

"God I love this place!" Oliver yelled as they jumped up and down to the pounding bass of the music that was playing.

The dance had started out, much to McGonagall's enjoyment, as a type of ball. Everyone was dancing classical waltzes across the dance floor. That was until Sirius had enchanted a radio to play other music. Music that kids were now grinding and jumping too, much to McGonagall's disapproval. Dumbledore wouldn't let her turn the radio off, as he himself was enjoying hopping around to the beat of the music.

It had only gotten better when someone had started passing out the enchanted plastic necklaces that glowed like the toy muggles got when it was dark, glow sticks. Now it was almost pitch black in the Hall, and there were glowing necklaces bouncing all over the place.

"Rave in the great hall!" Ruby yelled over the music, and anyone who could hear her cheered happily.

Even Francesca, who was dressed in an emerald green dress that was both seductive and classy at the same time, seemed to be having a lot of fun. Severus, although not as entertained as the others, still had a small smirk on his face as he shuffled along with the music, even if he was being forced to do it.

"I think I should have transferred here permanently about six years ago!" Oliver yelled over the music as he spun Rowena.

"That would have been nice!" Rowena laughed over the music.

Reed smiled, it was cute to see how infatuated they were with each other already. It was like they had known each other for years. It made her sad to think about when Oliver would have to leave.

"Do you want something to drink?" Alex asked as he twirled Reed around by her hand.

"Oh, yes. That would be lovely. I'll come with you!" Reed let Alex take her by the hand and lead her out of the masses of people who were so packed together she felt like she was in a sardine tin.

Reed was tempted to look at the table the boys were all sitting at when she and Alex passed it. But knowing that Remus was sitting there with Sirius and James made her ignore her impulse all together. She put the thought in the back of her head and followed Alex over to the punch bowl.

"I think I might puke." James said as Reed and Alex passed their table, Reed's hand firmly in Alex's.

"You know, they make a perfect couple," Sirius said seriously, "Both blond, both blue-eyed, both pure-bloods. A match made in wizarding heaven."

James rolled his eyes, he knew Sirius was trying to goad Remus. But as Remus was, at this point, watching Reed's every movement, it didn't work. James almost cringed at how cruel Reed was being. He knew she was just trying to teach Remus a lesson, but the poor werewolf sitting beside him looked like he was going to crumble into little pieces.

"James, look." Sirius pointed to the dance floor.

Severus had gotten away from Francesca. Most likely because someone had slipped fire whiskey in the punch bowl, and she was busy fawning over a group of guys. She probably didn't even know that Severus was gone. He was talking to Lily now. He looked nervous and confidant at the same time, like he had rehearsed what he was going to say to her.

Lily said something back to him, and then glanced over at James. There was a look on her face that he had never seen before. One of complete and udder sadness. James knew that Lily and Snape had been best friends when they had gotten to Hogwarts, had been best friends until the end of their fourth year.

He knew it was killing Lily that she couldn't do anything about the way his life was heading. He nodded at her, letting her know that she could go do what she wanted, even if she was going to go talk to the creep alone.

"Are you sure you want her to go off with him?" Sirius asked.

"She'll be fine. Snivellus wouldn't hurt her." He knew this for a fact.

Sirius didn't look so sure. They watched as Lily and Severus walked out of the Great Hall, past Reed and Alex. Reed sent James a startled look, but he just waved it off with a smile. Hopefully this night would end well. Hopefully.

* * *

Lily stood on the first landing of the staircase with Severus. They were in the middle of an awkward silence, with her holding her arm, and him looking down at the cobblestone floor. He had asked her to come with him, that he needed to talk to her.

"Severus…" Lily started, trying to get him to start talking.

"Do you love him?" Severus asked at once.

"Love who?" Lily asked, although she knew perfectly well who he meant.

"Don't play stupid with me, Evans! Do you love Potter?" Severus had a flat face. Not showing any emotion, not anger, or sadness.

"I... I think I…" Lily said looking down at the floor guiltily. She didn't know why she felt this bad telling him all of this.

Severus had been her friend from the time she was ten to the time where they had fallen out at age fifteen due to his choice in friends and life-style. But she could nearly feel her heart break when she told him.

"Then I can't be friends with you anymore. I wanted to try, to see if I could persuade you to be with us…" He said, unable to get the words out of his mouth, he was starting to choke on them; "I wanted to still be your friend. But I can't. Not if… not if you're with him."

"Severus please. We can still be friends," Lily said this desperately, this was her last chance to save him, "Please, stop all of the horrible things you're doing, we can be friends again!" Lily could feel her face heat up with tears.

"If you leave him, I will sever all my ties with anything doing with The Dark Lord." Severus, of course, knew this was an empty promise. He would never be able to sever ties with that thing. Never.

Lily looked at him, the shock in her face was clearly evident. She hadn't been expecting him to give her an ultimatum. Could she leave James if it meant saving what was left of Severus's soul? Could she do it?

Lily let out a gasping cry. Her knees buckled out from under her and she fell to the cobblestone floor. Her face buried in her hands. Her sobs were muffled a little bit now. Severus didn't wait for her to reply.

"We won't be friends next time we see each other out of school Lily. I can't guarantee I won't kill you. Or Potter. Or any of your friends for that matter." And with that one last quip, Severus Snape was gone, down the stairs and back into the dungeons to his common room.

Lily sobbed harder now. She had been selfish. She had had the chance to save him, to help him. And she stood there and didn't. Just because she had a boyfriend. A boyfriend she hadn't known for as long as Severus.

Lily couldn't bear what had just happened. Without telling James, or anyone else for that matter, she walked up the stairs toward the Gryffindor common rooms. She crawled into her bed when she got into the dormitory, not even taking off her dress. And as she lay there, silent with no one else in the room, she hoped for a second that the next time she saw Severus Snape outside of school, he would hold to what he said, and kill her.

"I wish we had dances like this back home," Alex laughed as he spun Reed around gently to a softer, slower song.

"You American's don't know how to have any fun," She giggled.

Alex pulled her back to him, one of his hands on the small of her back, the other holding her hand to his chest. This was nice, he hadn't had this much fun in a while now. Reed sighed as she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes and swaying with him to the beat of the music.

"Reed?" Alex asked quietly, his lips close to her ear.

"Hmm?" She mumbled tiredly.

"I was thinking… well I've asked you to this dance and we uh," His face went scarlet thinking about the day down at the lake, "we've gotten to know each other well…" he finally settled.

Reed laughed, knowing what he was talking about; honestly it was cute the way he got so flustered, "Yes we have gotten to know each other."

"I was just wondering… well next weekend we have that trip to Hogsmeade…" He paused for a seconds before continuing, "And I wanted to know if you'd go on a date with me," he cleared his throat, "As my girlfriend."

Reed looked up suddenly, as his girlfriend? Alex Emerson was asking her to be his girlfriend. A wide smile broke across her face, as she stood on her toes to place a chaste kiss to his lips. She could feel him smile as he held her a little more securely.

"I would love to."

* * *

Lily decided right away she was going to pretend that everything was okay. That she hadn't just spent almost half an hour in the girl's bathroom crying her heart out. So when the dance was finally over and the girls were back in the common room, she laughed along with Ruby while Reed danced around and hummed happily.

"I'm going on a date! A date, a date, a date!" She sang she spun herself around again, and flopped down on the couch, her head resting neatly in Ruby's lap.

"You're going to make yourself sick spinning so much love." Ruby said playing with her hair.

"I'm already sick." Reed said dazedly.

"What?" Lily asked suddenly, Reed didn't seem sick…

"Love sick!" Reed laughed uncontrollably.

"That was so cheesy." Ruby couldn't help but laugh with her.

"If you three wouldn't mind hushing up a little…?" Sirius asked with a laugh as the boys entered the common rooms.

Sirius looked fine, Remus looked a little less then happy, and James looked down right angry. Lily steeled herself, ready for the impending fight she knew was about to happen.

"What's got your knickers in a bunch James? You look positively fuming." Reed said worriedly.

"Well dear sister, I would be happier if I didn't watch you throw yourself at that American idiot all night."

Lily sighed, and there it was. James and Reed fought more then James and Sirius did, and that was surprising. Lily watched as Reed's face went from worried, to shocked. If this had been the 'old' Reed as she and Ruby liked to call it. She would have started crying. This however was the 'new' Reed and she was starting to look down right scary at the moment.

"Since when is dancing throwing yourself at someone?" She hissed.

"It's not, but kissing him when you have a boyfriend is!" James yelled.

Ruby sighed, that was defiantly the wrong thing to say, "I'm sorry, but incase you forgot, Remus and I broke up!"

"So what, you guys had a fight, you two always fight! That doesn't mean you broke up with him!"

"Actually James, it does, and it doesn't even matter now, because for your information, I have a boyfriend!" Reed yelled getting off of the couch in a huff, she climbed the stairs to the girl's dorm, stopping half way, "And you know something else? If you were a good brother, you'd be happy that I was happy myself." And with that the door slammed.

James looked around for some confirmation that no, he was not in fact, a bad brother. Just one who knew what his sister should do.

"Sorry mate," Sirius sighed, "I would like it if Reedy and Remus got over this fight, but she's right."

James turned his head towards Lily and Ruby now, both girls held their hands up in mock surrender. Neither of them were going to say anything against Reed or James. When James went to look at Remus, he noticed he had already left, presumably to cry himself to sleep.

* * *

Okay so hello there! This is WonderBunny with the lovely A/N at the end!

I just wanted to thank everyone who didn't call me mean names because of the whole Alex and Reed thing. I swear, things will get better for those of you who absolutely hate him haha.

Wow… 25 chapters! That's a lot for me I think… I'm not sure how many chapters there is going to be in all, but I'm thinking around 40 something right now.

My biggest wish right now for this little piece of work is to obtain 100 reviews. I want all of you to help me with that! Please review, even if it's just "I liked this chapter a lot" Or "Maybe you could try this differently next time…" Or, "English people don't say that..." (This was a big help by the way!)

Thanks for reading!


	26. How it ends

This chapter makes me want to uh… cry a little ha-ha!

sexy ending is for a friend of mine, you'll understand what I mean when you get there.

I don't even know what to say...

* * *

Chapter 26: How it ends

Reed had woken up early that day. Remus knew this because he could hear her giggling to herself as she was getting ready for her date with Alexander Emerson. He smiled when he heard her singing some fluffy pop song. To be honest, he wasn't angry with her. He had wanted to talk to her and ask her if they could still be friend's days ago, but James was steadily making their friendship impossible. He sighed; this was going to be a long day.

"Where's Lily and Ruby?" Remus looked up to see Reed standing at the bottom of the girl's staircase.

Her hair was pulled back in a messy looking bun, small wisps of curly blond hair falling around her face. She looked a little taller due to her heeled boots that reach up to her knees, almost disappearing underneath her skirt. She looked absolutely stunning. To bad she hadn't gotten dolled up for him.

"They went to grab something quick to eat." He mumbled looking back down at his text book, hoping his heated face didn't mean he was blushing like mad.

"Oh. Okay…" Reed had never felt so awkward in her life. Should she continue talking? Maybe she should try and make up with him? After all it wasn't like he had been all that nasty to her since they had gotten into the fight. Reed opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. Who was she kidding; he was looking at his text book, not her. He didn't want anything to do with her anymore. Reed quietly walked back upstairs to grab her stuff.

Remus placed his head in his text book and then slammed both ends shut. Maybe if he kept doing this, he would succeed in killing himself? He was about to try it again, when he heard a knock on the door, well the portrait anyways. Getting up Remus swung open the door to the Gryffindor common rooms.

"Oh, uh… is Reed here?" Alex asked averting his gaze down to his shoes.

Now that he thought about it, Remus really hadn't ever taken much time to really look at the American boy. He was at least two inches taller then himself. His hair was shaggy, but it looked professional at the same time. His bright blue eyes were framed by long eyelashes, and he looked like he had an athletic build. So pretty much everything he wasn't. Wonderful.

"Remus? Who's there?" Remus turned around Reed was standing at the bottom of the staircase again, pulling on a sweater and scarf.

"Hey Reedy," Alex waved, not bothering to push past Remus to get into the Common rooms.

"Oh, hey!" Reed grabbed her bag, gave a quick glance at Remus, and was off with her American boyfriend.

He really knew better. And he knew this wasn't going to end well. But for some reason, when Reed looked at him, some glimmer of hope rose up in him. Maybe he could just go to Hogsmeade and goof around with James and Sirius, that didn't count as stalking right? Because if you weren't following said person, it didn't count. Running up to the boy's dorm, Remus grabbed his jacket and scarf and was out of the common room in seconds.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Severus asked lightly as he sat on the couch, a book in his hand.

"Am I sure? What kind of question is that?" Francesca scoffed as she wrapped herself up in her winter wear.

"You've never killed a person before. I was just making sure you knew what you were doing." Severus sighed as he gently turned the page of his book.

"I'm sure I know how to kill a person Severus, really if I wasn't mistaken, I'd think you were worried about me." Francesca let a coy smile slip on to her face.

"I'm only worried that you won't be able to do what you set out to do," Severus added coolly, "The Dark Lord wouldn't take too kindly to that."

"Well the Dark Lord and I have a certain agreement, so I don't think you need to worry about anything, Snape." Francesca shot back, getting irritated.

"Well then, have fun," Severus dismissed her as he sat back, getting more comfortable. Really, he didn't want to have anything to do with this job, Francesca could go kill whomever she wanted while she was in school, Severus was content being a spy for now.

"I will, you have fun sitting in the comfort of the school and being a coward." Francesca snapped back, pulling her hair up in a quick pony-tail before she stormed out of the Common rooms.

Severus smiled, yes he would enjoy letting her do the dirty work, as long as it meant he didn't have to get his own hands dirty. For now at least.

* * *

"This place is amazing…" Alex muttered looking at all the colorfully lit shops and stores.

"You don't have a place like this in America?" Reed asked snuggling into his side for warmth.

Alex smiled wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in closer to him, "No, not really. I mean we have a place like Diagon Alley obviously, but nothing like this so close to the school anyways."

"That's a shame. You'll have to stock up on all the stuff here then while you have the chance," Reed smiled wrapping her own arms around him in an attempt to get warmer.

"Well, I can always get stuff when I come back later." Alex muttered.

"Later? This is the only trip we're taking until you guys leave…" Reed said, he wasn't planning on coming out here when he wasn't allowed was he?

"Well, this isn't the only time I'm going to be coming to England. After all, how am I supposed to visit you?"

"Visit me?" Reed asked confused, what was he talking about?

"Well yeah," Alex laughed nervously, "You didn't expect me to just go back to America and never come back did you?"

Reed smiled, of course he was going to come back and visit her, "I could always go to America too…" She trailed off.

"Oh you would love it there!" Alex said immediately growing animated, "There is so much I could show you! Like the outer banks, I mean it's not magical at all, but the sights, whoo, they are amazing! And mount Rushmore! And Washington D.C. too!"

Reed laughed with him as he went on and talked about everything they would do. It was charming, and she suddenly really wanted to go see the Washington monument. Just as they were getting their food, Alex stopped talking suddenly. He looked worried almost.

"What's wrong?" Reed asked, taking a sip of her butter beer.

"Nothing… I just thought I felt someone watching me is all." Alex laughed it off as paranoia, and the two of them continued eating.

Reed hadn't felt anything, but now that he had said something, she felt sort of weird herself. Maybe it was just the nerves of a first date?

* * *

"I am so glad you decided to come to Hogsmeade after all Moony. It just wouldn't be the same without you." James laughed as he threw an arm over Remus's shoulder and his other over Sirius's.

"Well, studying all day would have given me a headache," Remus smiled, that wasn't true, he wanted to keep an eye on Reed for some reason.

"Well either way, you're here now, and I am starving, so let's go get something to eat, hm?" James led the way to a small restaurant for the three of them to grab some quick food.

"Does anyone else feel that?" Sirius asked after he had taken a bite of his sandwich.

"Feel what?" James asked stuffing his face with food.

"That… I don't know, it feels weird."

" I think you've been watching too many scary movies," James laughed downing his drink.

"Yeah, maybe, but I don't think that's it."

"Well whatever it is, just ignore it, because you're starting to make me feel nervous," James gave Sirius a look.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever mate," Sirius shook the eerie feeling off as finals nerves. He hadn't study yet, maybe that's why he was getting all jittery. He should probably start when they got back to the school.

Remus smiled at the two. Honestly, they could bicker back and forth like an old married couple sometimes. It was rather amusing to watch. Remus sighed and looked out of the window. That was funny, it had been sunny just a few moments ago, and the forecast hadn't said anything about bad weather. Why was the sky so dark now?

"James, Sirius, look at this," Remus said pointing out to the sky, "That's not a storm rolling in is it?"

Sirius looked out of the window for a second, before James could even look out of the window, Sirius swore, rather loudly, "Where are the girls?"

James seemed startled for a moment, not exactly sure what was going on, "Lily and Ruby are both back at the school. Reed is somewhere here with that American tosser." James muttered.

"We need to find Alex and Reed and get out of here now." Sirius nearly yelled as he sprinted out of his seat and took off towards the entrance to the restaurant.

"What? Why?" James asked grabbing his stuff and taking off after him, "It's just a few storm clouds. They may get wet walking back, but I don't see what the big hurry is abou," James never finished his sentence as the lights in the restaurant suddenly went out.

"What the hell is going on?" Remus shouted, he was starting to worry now.

"We need to get out of here!" Sirius yelled pushing the door open. That's when it started.

None of them had quite been ready for the sudden onslaught of spells flying everywhere. There were people in the streets running around screaming, covering their heads as if the sky was going to open up and start dropping things. James looked around, Witches and Wizards were starting to Disapperate at rapid speeds, and the streets were steadily looking emptier by the second.

"We need to get to a hiding place now!" Sirius yelled grabbing one of Remus's hands and one of James' as he took off towards one of the buildings he knew had a passage back to the school in the basement.

"What? Why? Sirius, what the bloody fuck is going on!" James yelled pulling his hand out of Sirius's.

"They're death eaters James! Why else do you think people are running around like mad? Because of a simple thunderstorm!"

"Bloody hell…" James muttered, and then it came to him, Reed, "We can't leave her here!"

"You and Remus go then, I'll grab Reed and Alex. We'll meet you back at the school in no more then 15 minutes."

"No! It's my sister Sirius, I have to go get her!" James yelled angrily.

"What's the point in all of us having the chance to die James? You and Remus need to go back to the school now!"

"We'll all split up. That way we have a better chance of finding Reed and Alex sooner." Remus said suddenly.

"I agree with Remus." James said suddenly, anything to find Reed.

"Argh! Fine! We'll all split up! I swear to Merlin if either of you get killed I will kill you!" Sirius yelled angrily as he took off towards the back part of the village.

"Good luck mate," James said as he ran off towards the east side of the village.

Remus nodded, heading towards the north. At the time his plan seemed fool proof. One of them had to come across Reed eventually. The only problem was, once one of them found her, how would the other two know? He pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He didn't have time to worry about that now. What he needed to do was find Reed and get her out of here.

* * *

Reed was currently stuffed into a storage closet in the basement of Honeydukes. She was pressed up against Alex's chest, listening to the screams of classmates above her. She wasn't sure what had been happening at first, but she had figured it out almost immediately. Death Eaters. Why they were attacking the village though she wasn't sure. There was really nothing here to take after all, what did the Dark Lord want candy, and just didn't want to pay for it?

Reed would have laughed if she wasn't so busy being scared out of her mind. Alex had her hugged to him, his back facing the opening of the closet. He was stroking her hair gently and rubbing circles in her back trying to sooth her nerves. It wasn't working, but it did feel nice.

"Alex…"

"Shh Reed, it'll be over soon. If they don't find what they want, then they'll leave for another day, and if they do find what they want then they'll leave anyways."

"Alex Im scared." Reed muttered into his chest.

"I know Reedy it'll be okay. I'll protect you." Alex hugged her closer if that was even possible.

Reed nodded her head, hopefully he wouldn't have to. Whatever it was they were looking for they needed to just find it and go away. She was done with feeling afraid all the time. She didn't want anything bad to happen to the ones that she loved.

"You said they went down there?" a feminine voice asked suddenly.

"Y-yes! They ran down there to hide!" Reed recognized that as the owner of Honeydukes.

"Shit…" Alex squirmed a little so he and Reed weren't as cramped anymore.

"Where are you going?" Reed yelled in hushed whispers as Alex went to open the door to the closet.

"I didn't do anything to protect my father Reed, I have to protect you. I can't let you get hurt," he smiled before he leaned in for a kiss.

Reed felt like crying as he gently caressed her lips with own. Moving against hers like they were molded for each other. Alex pulled back before placing one more chaste kiss on her lips, "I know this sounds ridiculous Reedy, but trust me, we would have gotten married one day," and with that he shut the door behind him.

Would have gotten married? What the hell did that mean! He hadn't meant to put that in past tense had he? He had meant he was going to marry her one day. _**Was **_damn it! Reed scooted closer to the opening of the door. She could see Alex only slightly trying to look like he had been hiding, but in reality, he was a sitting duck. Maybe she could convince him to come back and hide with her.

"Oh, well isn't this a surprise! Just who I wanted to find." Reed could have sworn she knew that voice.

"Me? What would you want with little ol' me?" Alex asked scoffing.

"I think you know what we want. You have something we want, and we want it now. If you kindly hand it over to us, then I'll let you go without a fuss. If not… well that's a different issue."

"I don't know what you want. So you should probably stop wasting your time with me." Alex said so casually Reed could have sworn he was having a normal conversation.

"Where is it Emerson! I am done playing these games!" Reed whimpered a little, thankfully the woman hadn't heard her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alex said again, only more bitter this time.

"You would dare pull your wand out on me?" The woman asked again, she seemed like she was laughing.

Reed could see vibrant colors fly through the air. Spells, dear Merlin they were fighting. She closed her eyes tightly and froze. Just like she always did. Why couldn't she do something? Anything! Distract the woman at least so Alex could get a good hit on her or something! Reed steeled herself, she was going to do it, she was going to jump out of that closet and kill the bitch herself!

"Reed!" Reed snapped her head towards the sound of her name. That wasn't Alex… that was Remus. What was Remus doing here? There were sounds of scuffling, and a loud curse from the woman. It seemed as though Remus had gotten into the fight because Reed could hear him shouting spells.

There was a yell of something. Something that should have never been said. A spell that should have never been uttered. There was the sound of feet on stairs and Remus yelled out a body binding charm, but from the way he cursed, it didn't hit its mark.

Reed tumbled out of the closet in her hurry to see what had happened. Remus was sitting next to the stairs, his face all bloodied up. He looked like he was in pain, and he was breathing hard. Reed looked around for Alex, Remus seemingly not noticing she was there yet.

Alex was lying on the floor, his eyes were closed. His legs and arms were sprawled out in random directions. His face was cut and small bruises had already started to form on his neck and arms.

"Alex…" Reed started timidly.

Remus was suddenly aware of the other presence in the room. At first he had thought maybe Alex had gotten Reed back to school somehow, but here she was kneeling beside the American. She looked frazzled, her hair was coming out of its bun, and she was worrying her bottom lip.

"Alex," her voice was cracking with each time she said his name. She ran her hands over his face slowly, "Alex…" Tears started forming in her eyes, and before she could even think about it they spilled out over the rims of her eyes, "Alex!" she shook him gently, then harder.

"Reed… come on, we have to go." Remus murmured to her, trying to get her off the ground.

"No! no, I can't leave him here!" She looked back at him angrily, "I can't leave him…" she said again quietly.

"Reedy, we'll get him don't worry, but for now we need to hurry and leave before they come back."

"I am not going! I am staying here!" Reed yelled, her baby blues furious.

Remus sighed, dear Merlin he was going to get yelled at later for this. Pointing his wand to the back of Reed's head, he muttered quietly under his breath so that she couldn't hear him. Reed stiffened for a moment before she completely slumped to the floor.

Remus looked over to Alex. There was no hope for him. He was dead, there wasn't any way to bring him back. He would, he would do it in a second if it meant Reed would be happy, but nothing could bring back someone after they were killed like that.

"Mobiliarbus," Remus gently moved Alex over to a secluded corner of the basement. He would tell one of the professors as soon as he got back to the school, right now though he could only take Reed with him, and as she was still alive, she was more important.

Remus picked Reed up and slung her over his shoulder, wincing when it was less then gentle. Her head hit his back with a thud. Moving aside a part of the tile that was down in the basement, Remus took Reed and carried her through one of the passageways that led back to the school.

* * *

"Damn it all!" Francesca screamed as she paced around the stretch of the screeching shack.

She could have killed him another way! She could have easily taken care of the annoying pest without using the killing curse. She was so bloody stupid! Now it would be tracked back to her, she would be arrested and sent to Azkaban for the rest of her life!

"Now dear, stop pacing, it isn't becoming." A silk voice said from behind her.

Francesca jumped and wheeled around to see the Dark Lord sitting in one of the old dusty chairs behind her. He was wearing black robes and cloak. His silver serpent brooch was shining as the light from the moon reflected over it. Francesca looked him over. It was only the third time she saw him in person. His hair was short and black, a little wavy. His eyes always seemed like they were narrowed and his nose was small and snake-like.

"My apologies my lord." Francesca bowed before him, her hair falling over her shoulders in waves of black.

"Now, now Francesca you have no need to apologize. Come here, tell me what is worrying you girl."

"I… I used the unforgivable curse m'lord." Francesca said shakily as she drew closer to the man.

"Now why are you upset over this?" Voldemort asked as he placed his hands on her shoulder and rubbed up and down her shoulders soothingly.

"They can trace it back to me. I'll be sent to Azkaban!" Francesca said, she could feel tears well up in her eyes.

"My sweet girl, nothing like that will happen, I'll take care of it." He said, almost hissing.

Francesca's head shot up to look at him, "You will?" she thought he'd just leave her to rot, she wasn't his problem after all.

"Of course," he sealed his promise with a kiss. Francesca smiled against his thin lips.

She leaned into him, putting her hands into his hair, and letting his hands roam over the front of her body. Francesca lifted herself up to get a better angle, now she was straddling him. She tugged his hair a little harder, and he in return bit her bottom lip. It would have hurt, but the pain was mixing with the pleasure of what was going on, and it made a wonderful mix of emotions.

Francesca moaned when she felt his cold hands search under her robes, rubbing up and down her back. She craned her neck a little to give him better access as he sent little nips and bites down her neck, leaving marks in his wake.

"Let your worries melt away little one," Voldemort murmured into her ear, she felt herself being picked up, and soon her back hit something soft, a mattress that was part of the old bed pushed into the corner.

Voldemort lowered himself on top of her, placing kisses along her collarbone and down her shoulders as he slipped her jacket off. Francesca sighed, she would let all of her worries melt away, after all, she was being taken care of now.

* * *

So… there's a lot of things I need to explain… umm.. first of all let's just go straight to Voldemort. I honestly think he still looked kind of hot back in the day, after all he hadn't really gone all snakey yet, that was in the fourth movie, so we're just going to say he still has a lot of human attributes. And Francesca.. oh dear lord. She's kind of a ho… Let's be honest, Voldy probably had some game back in the day :D

Other then that I really can't explain anything. You'll see what Francesca wanted later, like next chapter later.

I wrote this whole chapter to the songs

Notice me- Alexa Ray Joel

How it ends- Devotchka (this is really the only one that fits this chapter ahah)

Charmed life- Leigh Nash (Yeah I realize this one doesn't fit…)

Reviews are always welcome! Thanks for reading!


	27. Hurt

I am so sorry! Please don't stone me! I was so busy with a whole bunch of things, like food poisoning, a flood that destroyed my whole basement, a 12 page paper, school in general, life in general. Ugggh. I'm so sorry for the late update, I promise things should be going out faster now!

Chapter 27: Hurt 

* * *

It had been almost two weeks since the conflict at Hogmeade. That's what they were calling it now, the Hogsmeade conflict. Like it hadn't been an all out attack on innocent people. The ministry hadn't even issued a statement on the matter, other then it was being looked into. Nothing was said about the sixteen people who died seven of them students. One of them an American exchange student, one of them who was so important to another student. Reed buried her face into her pillow. That was what they never told you. They never told you how important the people who died were to others, they hardly made them seem like they were alive in the first place.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been lying in bed. She had gotten up every so often to use the restroom, or take a shower, or eat, and then it was right back into bed. She was tired of everyone around her dying. She was tired of funerals and loosing the people she loved to awful monsters. She'd had enough, and she was going to lie in bed until graduation came around. She would be perfectly content with that. Unfortunately she was the only one who would be happy with it.

"Reed, you need to get out of that bed now. You haven't been downstairs in two days." Reed lifted her head off of her pillow to see Lily standing at the foot of her bed, her hands on her hips.

"No thanks." Reed muttered shoving her face back down.

"That's not a good enough answer Reed." Lily sighed, "The others are leaving today. Don't you want to say goodbye?"

Well that was enough to get Reed's attention. True enough after the whole thing had happened at Hogsmeade, the Flamel Academy students were being sent back. It was a wonder that was the only thing the American's asked for, considering that Hogwarts was trusted to keep their students safe, and had failed on one very large count.

"When are they leaving?" Reed asked, sitting up.

"In about half an hour, if you change now, you'll have enough time to get down there and see them." Lily gave a small frown, "I know how much this hurts Reed, but do you think Alex would want you to mope around and be depressed all the time?"

Reed just snorted while she pulled on a pair of pants, "That is the most cliché thing anyone could say in a situation like this." She muttered.

Lily just sighed, "I know, I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say though."

"How about we just leave it at 'I'm sorry'?" Reed suggested pulling on a gray sweater.

Lily smiled sadly, "Okay, I'm sorry sounds good." She watched Reed intently as the girl made herself at least somewhat presentable as she pulled her now unruly, curly hair into a bun and pulled on a plain pair of slip on shoes.

"Okay, let's go." Reed muttered as she and Lily made their way down to the Common room of the Gryffindor house.

When the two reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone turned their heads to look. Most likely to see if Lily was successful in getting the blond haired girl out of bed. James smiled softly when he locked eyes with Reed. Reed managed to give him a half hearted smile in return.

Remus looked at her; he fidgeted in his seat, unsure as to what he was supposed to do. He wanted to say something to her. He wanted to comfort her, but what could he say that would make it better? He'd been down in that basement with the two of them. He could have easily switched places with Alex. He could have been the one who would have died. And honestly, how bad would it have been? His parents didn't like him like Alex's did, he didn't have siblings like Alex did, sure he had friends, but Alex had more, and he didn't have a girlfriend. Remus mentally chastised himself, he was supposed to be figuring out a way to make Reed happy, not make himself feel guilty.

He would have to wait until later to find out some plan for Reed's happiness later though, because right now everyone was leaving the Common Room to go down to the Great hall and say goodbye to all the Flamel students who were leaving. Quickly grabbing his jacket, Remus followed the others down to the first floor of the school.

He could say something to her right now, he thought as Reed walked barely two steps in front of him. All he had to do was gently tap her shoulder and ask her to fall back into step with him and talk to her. All he had to do was reach out. But something was keeping him from doing it. The thought of not knowing whether she blamed him or not. Did she blame him for not trading places with Alex? He would blame him if he were in her shoes, so why wouldn't she? She had all the right to. So with this thought, Remus drew his hand, which was poised to tap her shoulder, back and let it fall to his side.

Lily caught his eye and frowned at him. He really needed to get his ass in gear. Although it seemed a little wrong to her, right now was the best time to make up with Reed. Sure they had broken up, but no one expected them to stay apart for to long. Then Alex had come along. No one had expected it, and it was the only obstacle keeping the two of them away from each other. Lily hated to think about it this way, but with Alex gone, Reed and Remus were free to pursue each other again.

She had to let it go though. Every time she stuck her nose in someone else's business, it always tended to end up bad, and this was one thing she wasn't going to have crumble, not because of her anyways.

Finally, after what seemed like a million years of walking, the six friends finally made it to the Great Hall, where the Flamel academy students were lining up to walk out and to their transportation back to the United States. Tizzy was the first to see them. Turning around she grabbed the attention of Marion and Oliver. The two turned and smiled sadly when they saw the group of students approaching them.

"Alright?" Lily asked when they made it to the three teens.

Marion gave a small nod, "Yeah, as good as I can be I guess."

Oliver agreed, "I wish the circumstances of our departure were different, but it can't be helped."

"We shouldn't have to leave!" Tizzy pouted, "It wasn't the schools fault about what happened!"

Lily sighed, "I know, but your school is just being responsible. They don't want anything else to happen to you. After all, England is getting hit the worst with all of this Death eater business. They just want you all to be safe. You can't blame them." Lily tried to comfort the small American girl.

Tizzy just gave them all a pout, "I'm just gonna miss you all." That was when her eyes began to get watery with tears, and it wasn't long before she was crying her eyes out.

Marion looked like she was trying to keep her tears from flowing over her eyes, but in the end they just flew down her face as well. Lily couldn't stand it. The whole thing was so depressing. They hadn't been spending time together for very long, but for some reason she felt like she was loosing her best friends, and she felt a couple small tears trail down her cheeks as well. It wasn't but seconds later when Ruby felt her own tears come out, and then shortly after Reed surprised everyone by running into Tizzy's arms.

Her sobs were the loudest out of everyone's. Sure it was sad for Lily and Ruby for the other girls to be leaving them, especially after they had started to get along so well, but for Reed, she was loosing everything that connected her to Alex. Tizzy's arms wrapped around Reed's shoulders tightly and the two girls held each other while they cried.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Oliver looked at the group of females with confused looks on their faces. Why had they all suddenly started crying? Why weren't they stopping? It wasn't to long after the girls had started crying that they suddenly stopped. Tizzy held Reed at arms length.

"Wait a second, I have something for you." She dug through her messenger bag before digging out a small red velvet pouch, "We were asked to get Alex's things together for his family, and we found this. There was a letter tapped to it with your name on it, here." Tizzy went through her bag one more time before pulling out a small cream colored envelope.

"We didn't open it." Oliver said suddenly, "So we don't know what it is."

Reed nodded and took the small pouch and the envelope into her hands. She would save them for later when she was in the dorm room with Lily and Ruby. The group of students were brought back to reality when a teacher called for all the Flamel students to line up and follow her outside.

"Well I guess this is it." Marion said quietly looking down at her shoes.

"This isn't it." Lily said, giving her a smile, "This is defiantly not it. We'll all be in touch."

Tizzy nodded enthusiastically, "Of course we will! I couldn't just let you guys get off easy, now could I?"

Reed gave a small chuckle, wiping the stray tears off of her face, "Of course not. We wouldn't want it any other way either."

Oliver cleared his throat, "Well, it was great meeting you all." He went to shake hands with Sirius, Remus, and James, but James and Sirius pulled him into an awkward 'bro hug' as they called it. Remus gratefully accepted the hand shake. Oliver took Reed's hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze before saying his goodbyes to Lily and Ruby and leaving the great hall for the last time. Marion and Tizzy took turns hugging all the boys, and all five girls gave one big group hug before the two of them tearfully left the Great Hall following close behind Oliver.

Lily turned her head to look at Reed when she heard a small sniffle. She was trying to hold back her tears again. Lily smiled sadly, she hadn't cried at all since Alex died. It was a good start to the healing process.

It had been hours since the Flamel Academy students left, and yet it wasn't getting any better for any of them. Even the promises of staying in touch weren't doing much good for Reed's darkening mood. At least she had people who were connected to Alex, who knew how hard it was for her. But now she had no one. Sure she had a lot of people to comfort her, but people who were just as upset as her that Alex was gone? No.

Reed rolled over on the couch to face the portrait of the fat lady. Lily had given her a disapproving smile when she declined her request to go get something to eat, but hey, at least she wasn't holed up in her room anymore. Speaking of… Reed managed to find the motivation to get herself off of the couch and pad up the stairs to her room. She found the small velvet pouch and the small cream envelope sitting on the bed where she had left them. Gingerly, she reached out and picked up both items and walked quietly back down the stairs.

She looked around; making sure no one was in the Common room. Sure enough it seemed like everyone had left for some reason or another. Reed slowly put the letter and pouch down on the table in front of the couch and folded her hands in her lap. Maybe she should wait till Lily and Ruby got back from lunch to read it? It couldn't be anything bad though, right?

Reed bit her bottom lip in concentration. She wanted to know what it was and what it said, but she couldn't bring herself to open the envelope or peak inside the pouch. She would have to get someone else to do it for her.

"What are you doing?" Reed gasped in surprise when she heard the low, gravely voice from behind her.

Looking back she found Remus standing behind the couch, a text book in his hands. He looked tired, almost more tired then he had this morning when they went to see everyone off. Reed hadn't really taken the time to pay attention to him lately, and she'd started to regret it. Maybe if she'd paid him more heed, she would have noticed the way he was walking with a slight limp, or the fact that his face had obtained a new scar, or that his sandy brown hair was getting almost gray in some areas.

"Oh… um… well… I…" Why couldn't she talk all of a sudden, it was just Remus. Remus whom she's known since her first year of Hogwarts, Remus who was her best friend, Remus who she used to spend all of her time with, Remus who she used to… Reed stopped that thought when she felt her face get hot.

"Are you reading the letter Alex left for you?" He asked as he rounded the side of the couch and sat down next to her.

"I'm trying…" She muttered honestly.

"Trying?" Remus asked confused, "You haven't read it yet?"

Reed shook her head no, and lowered it to look at her shoes. She couldn't read it herself; she needed someone to read it for her. She was to afraid of what it said. She looked up at Remus suddenly with hopeful eyes.

"Would you read it to me?" She asked looking at him rather hopefully.

"You want me to read it to you?" He asked raising both of his eyebrows.

Reed's face fell. Of course he wouldn't want to read it. It was an awful thing to ask of him anyways. Now she felt guilty. She averted her gaze and fiddled with the ends of her sleeves. She could feel the tears threatening to spill over again. She felt awful, why did she have to keep hurting him?

She jumped when she felt a hand on hers. Looking up, Remus gave her a gentle smile, "I'm… I'm just surprised is all Reed. I didn't expect you to forgive me."

Reed was surprised, forgive him? Forgive him for what? For the fight they had? She had forgiven him for that a long time ago. It was only her pride that kept her from telling him she wasn't angry with him.

"Forgive you for what Remus?"

"For letting Alex die. I know I should have stayed and fought instead of him. He should have been the one to get you out of there, not me. I… I know you would have rather him stayed alive then me, but… I just… I was a coward. I couldn't do it." Remus looked away, ashamed with himself, which was it wasn't it? He let Alex stay behind and fight because he was jealous of him.

He was surprised at the sudden squeeze on his hand, and looked back to Reed. She was staring at him with an intensity he hadn't seen in a while. Her mouth was set in a deep frown, and her eyes were pooling with tears again. So maybe she hadn't forgiven him then?

"How could you say that?"

"I know… I'm sorry Reed! I just… I was jealous and I-"

"How dare you think I would rather you die!" Remus looked at her surprised, his eyes widening, "I would have been devastated if you had been the one to die Remus! Alex was… Alex was special, and I know I would have fallen in love with him had we more time together…" Remus blinked… wait, she wasn't in love with him already? "But, I _love _you. Do you understand what I'm saying?" No, no he didn't, "I mean that… I was already in love with you when we… when we broke apart… but… I… Merlin, now I don't know what I'm saying." Reed groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"I'll read the letter Reed." Remus said softly, he reached out and grabbed the small envelope. Reed watched him curiously as he slipped his fingers under the small flap and pulled it apart as neatly as he could.

With a deep breath, he pulled out the small piece of parchment. Reed could see black ink spread all over it in tiny scrawled words. Alex always did have great cursive writing. Remus licked his lips before he began to read.

"Dear Reed,

You're probably wondering what's in the pouch aren't you? Well, it's very important. If you're reading this, it's because I'm dead." Remus paused to look at Reed, she looked at him surprised, had Alex known he was going to be killed? Remus continued, "I hope you remember that story I told you that day by the lake. The day you kissed me for the first time," Remus didn't pause in reading, "My father was protecting a very precious item from the Death Eaters. I hadn't realized it until recently, but in his will he left me something odd, a small stone. I hadn't thought anything of it until recently. The stone he left me was what he was killed over that day in his office. I knew I had to protect it, so I brought it with me to England. And now, I'm giving it to you. I know you'll know what to do with it Reed, more then what I did. I know this isn't easy for you to read, but I wanted you to know, that even though now I'm not alive, and not with you, I'm up here looking down on you, I swear it. You'll never be alone. After all, you have…" Remus paused in his reading.

"I have what?" Reed asked.

"You have Remus too. I know he'll take care of you with me gone. He really is a good guy Reedy; don't let your pride get in the way of anything okay? It did for me, and look where I ended up. I want you to know that I love you. I truly do. Alex."

Reed held her hand out, and Remus placed the letter in it carefully. Her eyes scanned over the piece of parchment. She bit her lip roughly, almost enough to draw blood. The tears that were threatening to spill over were running down her cheeks now, and falling onto the parchment. She gave it back to Remus who folded it up and slipped it back into the crinkled envelope.

Reed's silent tears became full out sobs. Her small frame was shaking with tears and the pain of holding them back for so long. She couldn't do it anymore. She had tried to be new Reed. The Reed who didn't let anything bother her, who was strong, who wouldn't put up with anything, but she couldn't do it anymore. She was done trying to be tough. Alex had known it; he'd even talked to her about it before. And now she was finally realizing that she had been such an idiot. She'd hurt so many people while trying to be tough.

"Oh Reed, its okay. It'll be okay." Remus murmured in her ear, pulling her close to him and enveloping her in a hug, "It'll be okay Reedy. I'll take care of you okay? You don't need to worry anymore. Nothing bad will ever happen to you again, I promise."

It was in this situation that Ruby, Lily, Sirius, and James found the two of them in when they returned from their lunch. Reed was fast asleep, having cried herself to the point of exhaustion. Remus was on the couch, with Reed laying half on him, and half on the couch, her face buried into the crook of his neck. When he saw the four of them enter, he smiled slightly, and brought his free hand, the one that wasn't rubbing circles in the girls back, to let them know to be quiet.

Lily and Ruby just nodded and silently went up to the boy's dorm room, where they could talk without disrupting Reed. James on the other hand, looked entirely too happy for the current situation, and Sirius almost mirrored his happiness, but his was more subdued then James's.

James gave his friend a thumb up and a wide smile before he and Sirius followed the girls up to the dorm room. Remus smiled softly and went back to patting the girl's back soothingly. He had resented Alex since he'd met him for having everything that he didn't. For being tall, for having great looks, an athletic ability, for being able to make Reed happy. Now, though, as he looked over to the letter one more time, he couldn't help but to think he was actually a really great bloke.

* * *

Okay, so almost seven pages! Again, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I think you all know what the stone is… if you don't, or if you want to guess, just leave a review or something! Anyone who can guess gets a cookie! My reasoning for it as well will be in the next chapter, so look forward to that, especially since it'll be out a lot sooner then this one was, probably by next Sunday, Monday at the latest!

Reviews are much appreciated!

I live on them; they're like crack to me! Also, tell me if you like the centered version better, or if you like it when the paragraphs are flush left, it would help me with the way I write this!

Also this chapter is named after: I hurt too by Katie Herzig. It's a wonderful song, please go listen to it. At the end of the fic, I'll post a play list for you all to check out!


	28. Thank you

Hey guys! I know this isn't a chapter, but I think every so often I'm going to start doing a small review reply inbetween chapters, so here's one for you guys!

**Bonifaco16- **Thank you so much! I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy all the other chapters as well!

**Misteraous Severus Black-Snape**- Umm, not exactly haha. The point was that Remus kind of detested Alex for so long because Remus felt that he had everything he didn't. After he reads the letter, he realizes that he was actually okay, and he wasn't some asshole who was out to get him. That's all. They wouldn't have been friends or anything even if Alex had survived.

**Slytherinchickk**- Wow! I'm so glad you think so! And, I'm happy I could almost make you cry! Even though that sounds kind of awful... haha. Thank you so much for the input about the format of the chapters, I am going to be taking that into consideration! And oh, thanks! I'm always a really lazy proof reader, even though I think I should probably fix that ^^:

Your review was awesome!

**GinnyWeasley77**- Haha don't worry, sometimes I wanted to kill myself at some of the things I wrote too... it's kind of awful really D:

Thank you so much for the review! I loved it!

So thank you all for the reviews! And I promise, you are absolutly motivating me to write faster! Now only if I didn't have my new Pokemon game distracting me -.-;


	29. Im so Sorry

Hey guys! I know you were expecting this to be an update and I'm really sorry it's not... I have some good news and some bad news. Good news is that this isn't a permanant hiatus, and I can assure you that it won't turn into one, bad news is, that Falling is now on a hiatus.

There are a few things that are leading to this decision, one is that I'm graduating soon, and I really need to spend some time thinking about my grades right now. Another is... well a friend of mine has stopped talking to me randomly. I'm not sure what's going on, but it hurts a lot, and it's really putting me in a "I don't feel like writing anything." sort of mood. It's really affecting me... and I'm getting sort of depressed lately, and anyone who personally knows me could tell you that I'm normally always a happy go-lucky person.

I can tell you for sure that this hiatus will last no more than five months. I know that sounds really long, but that's all I can promise at this point, I'm really sorry! If you ever see me update something, know it's not because I'm writing again, but rather that I've already written it and I'm just uploading it. There's a story I've been working on that I have a lot of chapters written for already, so I'm not neglecting Falling, it's just that these other chapters have already been written prior to now. I hope none of you have decided to stop reading, but I understand if you do at the same time. Thank you so much for reviewing this little piece of work, it really makes me happy :)


	30. Breathe

Ummm… hi? Okay so the Hiatus defiantly didn't last as long as I thought it was. Honestly I didn't think I was going to have this chapter out for another three or four weeks. I told you guys not to worry right! Okay, so here's the chapter, hope you all like it! Also I want to give a shout out to my official Researcher, because writing a Harry Potter Fan fiction can be hard, because there is so much you have to double check, and she does that for me.

Thanks Cori… I would die without you. Seriously.

Chapter 27: Breathe

* * *

"So… what are we going to do with this?" Ruby asked passing the small stone from hand to hand.

Reed had woken up that morning, still cradled in Remus's arms on the couch. It wasn't any different then how they had woken up so many times before, but something felt right about it this time. She was done pushing him away; she was finished with fighting with him.

The matter of the small stone in the velvet pouch that Alex had left her was what the six were discussing this morning. There was nothing special about it that they could see. It was small, could easily fit in Ruby's palm, it was a rich amber color, and a few points of it were a little jagged, but not sharp.

"I don't know…" Reed admitted, "But I think we should give it to Dumbledore. I don't feel right keeping it." She looked around to gage the expressions of everyone else in the room.

James just sighed and ran a hand over his face and through his hair, "Alright lets go see Dumbledore. Might as well get this over with as soon as possible."

"Right," Lily agreed, "If this is what the Death Eaters were looking for… it's not a good thing to have it in our possession."

And that was how early on a Sunday morning the six teenagers found themselves standing in front of Dumbledore's office. Or rather, the very large stone Gargoyle that was the entrance to his office. Lily was about to open her mouth, perhaps from knowing the password, but before she could even get it out, the gargoyle had started to turn, and the stairs were revealed to the group.

"I guess he already knew we were coming?" Sirius muttered.

"He knows everything…" Reed muttered quietly, sometimes it was rather scary.

The group climbed the stone stairs to the top were they entered the office single file, as that was the only way the stair would allow. They were surprised to see Dumbledore already sitting behind his desk, a small red bird sitting on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. It's not often I see the six of you in my office." Which was a total lie, they had gotten in trouble so often in these past years it seemed they were in his office all the time.

"We…" Reed wasn't exactly sure how to start the conversation; oh we have a magical stone that the Death Eaters want. Yeah, that didn't make any of them sound crazy at all.

"You have something to show me, Ms. Potter?" Dumbledore asked giving her a small wink none of the others seemed to notice.

"Well… yes actually we do." Reed took the small velvet pouch out of her pocket and placed it on the desk in front of the Head Master.

"May I?" He asked nodding towards the pouch, asking for permission to open it.

"Of course!" Reed nearly squeaked.

Dumbledore pulled the top of the pouch apart, and having his hand placed under it, poured the contents of the pouch out into his open palm. The stone looked even smaller in comparison when it was in his large hands. He seemed almost surprised for less then a second, but the look was off of his face as soon as it had been there. He looked up at the teenagers.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked them, his face was completely serious now, unlike the jovial look it held a few minutes ago.

"No Sir." Lily answered, "It was given to Reed by Alexander Emerson after he died."

Dumbledore looked to Reed; silently asking her if this was true, not like Lily would lie or anything. Reed nodded her agreement, completely happy to let Lily keep talking.

"Do you know how Alexander came into possession of this stone Ms. Potter?" He asked her.

"He… He said it was in his father's possession. Mr. Emerson was the Minister of Magic in America. He also happened to be the President of the school board for Flamel academy." Reed said, trying to explain this all, even though she didn't understand most of it herself.

"I've known Mr. Emerson for a great number of years, I can see how he would come into possession of the stone," There was a short surprised silence, Reed hadn't expected that Dumbledore would have known Alex's father, but she realized now, being Minister of Magic, it was probably very likely, "Do you know the tale of the three brothers?" He asked again.

"The Fairy Tale?" James asked suddenly.

"Yes that would be the one. What do you remember about it?"

"Well there were three brothers who came upon a rushing river," Ruby started the retelling of the classic children's story, "They used magic to get across it, but death was upset because people normally drown in the river. So he pretended to congratulate them." Lily looked confused, apparently she had never heard the story before, "They each asked for something different. The first brother asked for a wand more powerful then any. The second brother asked for a stone to recall the dead, and the last brother asked for a cloak that would allow him to leave without being followed," Ruby took a breath, "Eventually death claimed the first brother, and the second brother had brought his beloved back to life with the… with the stone…" Ruby stopped in her retelling of the story.

"You can't possibly mean that this stone is the resurrection stone from the story!" Lily cried, "That's Impossible, you cannot bring people back from the dead!"

"It's a children's story Lily." James said giving her a pointed look.

"A Children's story that could be real…" Reed said, somewhat in awe looking at the shiny amber rock in Dumbledore's hands.

"Of course, this isn't the stone from the story I'm afraid." Dumbledore said, "It's a copy of sorts. Our own Nicholas Flamel has made it; it can't bring anyone back to life though I'm afraid."

"No," Reed said quickly, "That's a good thing. It would be unnatural. It wouldn't be right to bring the dead back to life."

Dumbledore gave the girl a small smile, "I'm glad you feel that way Ms. Potter. I know that this stone was left to you," Reed cut Dumbledore off.

"You can have it Sir. I don't want anything to do with it."

"I thank you for your generosity Ms. Potter. This will be kept safe, I promise you."

Reed nodded. She was just glad to be rid of the thing.

* * *

It seemed that the day had taken a toll on everyone, considering that it was only about eight that night when they all decided to go to bed. Reed and Remus stayed down in the Common Room though, studying for test. It wasn't exactly awkward between the two, but it was certainly something. The two hadn't really talked alone since Remus had read Reed the letter that Alex had left for her. Neither was sure about their status as a couple. Were they back together now? Or were they getting back into the groove of dating?

Reed looked over to where Remus was sitting. He was right beside her, but the difference was a couple of months ago, his leg would have been touching hers, or her feet would have been in his lap. She sighed; life was to confusing at times.

Unknown to Reed however, Remus was having the same exact internal conflict. Were they dating again? Could he touch her if he wanted to? It wasn't too early to start hugging her or to kiss her cheek was it? It had been almost three weeks since Alex died, was that too soon? He knew it probably was. He looked up at Reed, surprised when he found she was looking at him too.

Her face immediately went red, which let Remus know that she had been starring at him. A somewhat comforting thought. He smiled at her, "Reed…"

"I'm sorry!" She cried suddenly, "I didn't mean to stare at you!"

Remus just laughed. He had missed how easily flustered Reed could get at times. It was just too cute to him. He took a long look at her. Taking in her flushed expression, the way her blond curls were wrapping around her shoulders and down her back. The way her bright blue eyes were wide with the thought that she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have been. Other then the fact that she had been caught starring, she looked worried.

"What's wrong?" He asked worriedly, he hadn't seen that look on her face since her parents died.

"I'm just… worried about the future." She decided that was closest to what she was thinking, "You know with N.E.W.T.S. coming up, and then there's graduation at the end of the year… and I'll be living alone… I'm a social person, I can't survive living alone." She looked like she was going to have a mini panic attack. And suddenly, Remus had an urge that took over him, it was the strongest one he'd had concerning Reed since they had broken up, and he was damned if he wasn't going to act on it.

"Can I dance with you?"

Reed looked surprised. That was defiantly not what she was thinking he was going to say. Could he dance with her? Did he mean like party dance? She was sure he didn't. She didn't really know what to say, and he was looking at her like her answer would be the deciding factor in whether he was going to die alone or not. So mutely, she nodded her head.

She watched as he leaned over and took both of her hands in his. They were rough like she remembered, but they were still the most gentle she had ever felt. She felt herself being pulled up from the couch and soon she was flush against him. She felt his hands ghost over her body, one resting on the small of her back, and the other holding her hand to her side, in a soft slow dance position. And suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. She could feel the tears pooling at the ends of her eyes. And soon she was trying to cover it up with little hiccups.

And even though there was no music playing. There was no one else in the room, and they were in their pajamas, he took her waist and waltzed her around the room. Carefully avoiding furniture as he did so.

Reed rested her head on his chest. She didn't deserve for him to be so nice to her when she had been such a royal bitch. She hiccupped again as he pulled her closer to him. He rested his cheek on the top of her blond, curly head.

"I'm sorry." Reed said as they swayed back and forth to their own beat.

"Sorry for what Reedy?" Remus asked softly.

"Sorry that I was being such a prat. I didn't mean to do it on purpose," She thought about that, "Well actually, at the time I did."

Remus laughed, "Its fine. I meant that. I deserved most of what you said to me."

Reed shook her head, "No you didn't."

"Okay, well if you say so, I won't argue with you," Remus paused a little bit, his words hanging in the air. It was obvious he wanted to say something. He just didn't know how to say it, "You said something about being afraid of living on your own?" Remus asked.

Reed nodded into his chest, "Yeah." She mumbled.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that either. You can live with me." He wasn't exactly sure how that was going to happen since he was a werewolf, and werewolves weren't exactly hired everyday.

"No, you can live with me." Reed said. Remus was hurt a little. Did Reed even think he couldn't get a job? That he couldn't support her? "I got the house in my parent's will," Reed continued, "Why go buy a new house when we have a perfectly good one waiting for us?"

Remus felt a little better when she said it. So she wasn't afraid that he couldn't support her needs? She just wanted to live in the house her parent's gave to her, "What about James? I don't think he'll take too kindly to me living there." Remus laughed.

James was a sore subject. He tolerated the two of them being together. James knew Remus would support his sister emotionally; he would always care for her. But Remus knew James was on the same side as him, he wasn't happy about the fact that Remus might not be the best financial supporter. And who could blame him? This was after all, his little sister.

"Screw James," Reed muttered into Remus's chest, "He'll get used to it."

"I'm dangerous you know." Remus whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, I know." Reed whispered back.

"You'll probably be shunned from the rest of the wizarding world. Once they know I'm living with you."

"Who cares," Reed sighed. She looked up at him in the dark. Her blue eyes were shining so clearly, that Remus could make out her facial features, "So, what is it? Yes or no?"

Remus didn't answer for a while. She was being serious. She wanted him to live with her after school. He wasn't sure whether he was supposed to say no or yes. He wanted to that was for sure. He was imagining what it would feel like to wake up every morning and see her. His face went red thinking about… about that. It was a good thing it was so dark in the Common rooms.

"If you say no, I'll never talk to you again." Reed said.

"Then I'll say yes. It won't be fun living with me Reed. I am a werewolf. I'm dangerous, financially dead already. I may drag your name through the mud without meaning to."

"Go ahead, drag it."

* * *

It was late in the evening when Professor McGonagall entered the Gryffindor Common Rooms. She hated being the bearer of bad news. It was never fun. Especially because it seemed like when it came to the Potter children, she was always the one who was telling them bad news.

She had entered the Common Rooms expecting to find it completely empty and devoid of children, since any sane person, young or old, would have gone to bed by now. She was surprised to see a lump on one of the couches. When she drew closer to inspect it, she realized it was actually two people crammed onto the couch, sleeping.

One of the teens she needed was there, her arms wrapped around the Lupin boy's waist, her head resting on his chest. He was clearly deep in sleep as well, one hand on top of her head, the other over the hands she had wrapped around his waist.

She almost felt guilty about waking them up, but then she remembered that they weren't supposed to be that close to each other anyways, and she decidedly felt a little better about breaking the two up. With a careful nudge, she managed to wake Remus first.

The look on his face when he realized the position he was in, and who exactly was looking at him was priceless, and if Minerva wasn't proper, she may have chuckled just a little.

"P-Professor!" He whispered loudly, seemingly not wanting to wake the girl using his chest as a pillow up.

"I need you to go up and get James. It is of utmost importance that you do this." McGonagall told him sternly.

He nodded profusely and carefully detangled himself from the limbs wrapped around his body, trying not to wake Reed up in the process. Minerva watched him as he scrambled up the stairs to wake his friend.

She sighed as she looked back down at the sixteen year old girl. She looked a little angry at the loss of heat, considering her face was scrunched up in a scowl. Gently, she shook the girl, easing her into awareness. Eventually, Reed opened her bright blue eyes although it was slowly. She took a while to process who was sitting on the edge of the couch.

"Professor?" She asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Yes darling it's me." And that's how Reed knew that something was wrong, because Minerva McGonagall never called anyone darling. It just wasn't normal for her. She looked at the Professor, quite confused about what was going on, when James came tumbling down the stairs, Remus right behind him.

"Professor?" He asked nervously, obviously he knew something was wrong as well.

"Children, why don't you come with me to my office?" She asked calmly standing up from the couch.

"What's wrong?" James asked, not moving from his spot at the bottom of the staircase.

"I'll explain that when we get back to my office Mr. Potter."

"Professor, it's late, and I'm sure Reed and I are more comfortable talking in here." James stood his ground.

Minerva just sighed; sometimes she wished kids would just obey without a second thought. She supposed she wasn't going to get them into her office without a fight though, and it would honestly be better if they were comfortable… or at least that there were places to sit down immediately after they heard the news.

"All right Potter, we may talk in here if you'd like."

James nodded his head, and went to sit next to Reed. Reed looked at him, already getting panicky. She knew something bad was going to happen. She looked around the room, finding Remus standing on the bottom step.

"Remus… please?" She asked pleadingly.

Remus nodded shortly and went around the other side of the couch to sit next to Reed. He looked over to James, asking him silently for permission to stay, in which was obviously going to be a family matter. James just nodded back, giving his approval, and looked back to McGonagall, letting her know they were settled.

"Earlier this evening there was a breakout at Azkaban jail." The looks on the children's faces grew more worried, and Minerva could feel the pit of her stomach begin to churn, "Aurors were called to the scene immediately. I just wanted to let the two of you know, that your sister was one of the Aurors called to go on the man-hunt. We haven't gotten any word back from the Auror's office, but you will be informed as soon as possible about what's going on."

James' face grew angry at the news, and in a fit of anger, he knocked over the lamp on the couch side table. Which in accordance to the domino effect, woke up all the other students who piled into the Common Rooms.

Minerva sighed, she had really wanted to save this for tomorrow, but she couldn't avoid it now, might as well tell them. Ruby and Lily looked worriedly over to Reed who was crying into Remus's shoulder as Minerva stood to talk.

"Earlier this evening, approximately at 11:30, there was a break out at Azkaban. Starting tomorrow, the school will be surrounded by guards," She paused slightly letting the students take it all in, "We will tell you more tomorrow in the morning when the rest of the students are awake. You should all go back to bed now. It's nothing for any of you to worry about."

The students all murmured to each other about what was going on, but otherwise obeyed and went back up to their rooms, some giving Reed looks as they passed by. Once all the students, excluding Reed, Ruby, Remus, James, Sirius, and Lily, were back upstairs, Minerva continued.

"I'm sorry for

* * *

I'm sorry! I know I just keep killing people! But I promise this is the last one… for a while…!

Chapter was named after the He is We song Breathe. Its beautiful. Actually, all of their songs are...

Anyways, reviews would be awesome. I'll answer any questions and reviews in a short little side chapter, because I promised Whisperheart a one shot… like forever ago, so that'll be the next chapter… like a side story haha.

Anyways, Please REVIEW!


	31. Lullabies

Umm… so I kind of screwed up… ahaha… I just noticed that I uploaded the wrong chapter for the previous chapter… this is how it was supposed to go… yeah sorry about that. The last chapter is edited to go along with the story line, so just reread the end if you really care… haha. Again, I'm really sorry. This chapter is the official start of Christmas break, so a lot of students have left already, as for our heroes and heroines, they've stayed behind.

* * *

Chapter 31: Lullabies

Once they had made it in to the Great Hall, all six of the friends were sure that the situation was more serious then McGonagall had let on. First of all Dumbledore was there. And secondly, besides them, there were only 12 other students who had decided to stay for the Christmas break.

Once they were all seated, Dumbledore stood and walked over to his podium. He sighed before he began talking, "I want to inform all of you, that there has been a break out from Azkaban."

Even though there weren't a lot of students, the gasp that came over all of them was audible. Reed looked over to James who was sitting beside her. If people had broken out, then the Corleones could have been amongst them.

"We want to assure you that it is safe here at the school," Dumbledore continued, "But let me tell you this. Dementors have been sent to the school to watch over it. While the Dementors are here solely for that purpose, if anything happens to look suspicious to them at all, they will attack. And Dementor attacks are not ones easily overcome."

"Starting today, you all will have classes to help you learn how to defend yourselves in case of an accidental attack. You will all report to Professor Flitwick's classroom after you have eaten breakfast," McGonagall called, "It is mandatory, not being there means detention."

After she had said her part, the food appeared on the table in front of them, and they all began to pile it on their plates. There was a silence in the Hall that had never been heard before. Sirius sighed.

"I don't care how crazy you are," He said shoving food into his mouth, "You don't escape from Azkaban. If I were in there, I would stay put."

"And wait to die?" Lily asked, "No thank you."

"It's better then the instant death that would happen if you were caught." Sirius muttered.

"What do you suppose they're going to teach us anyways?" James asked.

"You've obviously never paid attention in Charms class have you?" Reed asked, apparently she already knew the answer to that.

"A Patronus charm." Remus said, getting an icy look from James, he didn't continue on with his explanation of the charm.

"It casts a sort of barrier between you and the Dementor. It's the only thing that effectively repeals it." Reed said narrowing her eyes at her brother, "Stop being such a grouch. James." She sighed turning to Remus to talk to him.

"So that's all we're going to do then?" Sirius asked, "Is learn a charm we could have learned on our own?"

"Apparently you've never listened in Charms either." Ruby sighed.

"The Patronus Charm is one that is highly powerful. There's the normal Patronus, and then there's the full-bodied Patronus that takes the form of an animal that mirrors the casters personality." Lily explained, "Many people don't learn how to cast a full-bodied Patronus until they're out of school."

"Which means it's hard to do…" Sirius muttered.

"Which means this class is going to be horrible." James said.

"Yes," Lily said narrowing her eyes, "Which means you're going to have to pay attention for once."

"How awful." Reed scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm so excited that I get to teach you all how to cast Patronuses!" Professor Flitwick said as he stood on a stack of books.

"I think he might actually piss his trousers." James muttered to Sirius as they and the ten other students at the school stood in the classroom.

"Pay attention." Lily hissed, jabbing James in the side.

"Now, who can tell me how you cast a Patronus?" Professor Flitwick asked.

Remus raised his hand, "Showoff." James muttered.

Reed turned her head around to glare at him, "Yes Mr. Lupin?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"A Patronus is more likely to have a positive effect if you're thinking about a happy memory of some type while you're casting it. The more enjoyable the memory, the more powerful the Patronus is." Remus finished.

"Very good!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, "Five points to Gryffindor. Now, we're only going to practice casting it today, we won't get to the real hard stuff until later. I want you all to take out your wands."

Everyone did as he said. Reed took her wand out, accidentally jabbing James in the leg as she did so. Although accidentally could be used in loose terms. After everyone had drew their wands Professor Flitwick looked around for another person to call on.

"Ah, Ms. Potter. Can you tell me what charm you use to cast a Patronus?"

"Expecto Patronum." Reed answered without skipping a beat. She turned to look at James, "Oh, you aren't going to call me a show off? How surprising." She huffed, and then turned back around to pay attention.

"God, she is pissed at you!" Sirius laughed.

"Now I want all of you to get into a single file line." Flitwick instructed as they all got out of their seats and lined up in the room, "When I say so, I want the person in the front to think of the happiest memory they have, and then clearly call out, Expecto Patronum!"

Reed happened to be the first one in the line, so when Professor Flitwick gave her the clear to go, she started thinking about the happiest memory she had. She thought about being taken in by her aunt and uncle, but it was sad to think about why. She thought about being at Hogwarts, but then she thought about the homework she hated. Then she thought about Remus. Remus, who was always there even when she wasn't. Remus, who had helped her through her problems and she through his. It wasn't even a memory, just a person.

Reed snapped her eyes open, pointed her wand forward and called out, "Expecto Patronum!" There was a burst of silvery light coming from the tip of her wand, it was to bright for her to look at. But about five seconds later, it was gone. And she was feeling a little woozy.

"Good!" Flitwick called, "The charm will make you a little lightheaded after you use it for the first time, so when you all have had a go, sit down somewhere and rest."

Reed walked over to the table where she normally sat for class, and waited for all the others to go through the line. A Hufflepuff girl had been behind her. She had managed a spark of light, but nothing to much.

Soon Lily, Ruby, and Remus had all gone through the line. Each of them successfully summoning a small but somewhat lasting light, like Reed had done. The next kid was a Ravenclaw, he shouted out the charm, but had no success. It was clear to see that this irritated him to no end.

Soon it was James's and Sirius's turn. Sirius's yelled out the charm rather lazily, like he didn't care if it came out or not. But the silver light was almost as strong as the other four's had been. Sirius sat down beside them.

"Wasn't so hard after all." He said, smirking smugly. Lily just rolled her eyes.

James was the last to go, and like them, he had gotten the silvery light to come out of his wand. Though it was evident to see that he had started to think about something he didn't like, because it had vanished in a second. James put his wand back in his pocket, and angrily stomped over to the table they were all sitting at.

Reed couldn't help but smile. Good, he was being such an ugly-faced prat. He deserved it. After they had all finished their lesson, Professor Flitwick released them to do whatever it was they wanted to do. Lily, Ruby, Reed, Remus, Sirius, and James ended up outside in the snow, getting a snowball fight organized.

It was girl's against boys, magic allowed. Only because the boys thought that without it, the girl's wouldn't be able to have even a slight chance against them. It turned out to be a bad thing for the boys.

"Reducto!" Reed yelled aiming her wand at their snow made fortress.

The tall igloo looking thing crumpled to the ground, and then promptly melted. Ruby and Lily had then sent loose the snowballs they had charmed to speed off at alarming rated. Pelting the boys.

"Are you crazy!" James yelled, "You could have blasted us into next year!"

"You never said what spells weren't allowed!" Reed yelled back, laughing.

"Yeah?" James asked, he was in a better mood then he had been in recently. He raised his wand at the girl's fortress. He did a few fancy waves and shouted, "Confringo!" Nothing happened.

"What the hell?" Sirius asked, he looked confused, "I think you're getting rusty, mate," Sirius whipped out his wand and pointed it at the snow fortress, "Confringo!" golden sparks flew from the end of his wand and hit the snowy dome head on, "See," he said smugly, that's how you do it."

"Do what?" Remus asked, "Nothing?"

Sure enough when Sirius looked back at the girl's fortress, it was still standing. Without as much as a burn hole in it, "What the hell?" Sirius yelled across the field.

"Cave Inimicum, you asshats!" Reed yelled.

"Ms. Potter!" Reed turned her head to look at McGonagall who was storming towards the group of kids.

"Damn. I swear that woman has the ears of a…what animal has really good hearing?" Ruby asked turning to Lily.

"Bats, dogs, wolves, foxes…" Lily started listing off animals.

"I get it." Ruby grumbled.

Reed was sure she was going to get in trouble for calling Sirius an asshat. But when McGonagall looked down at the three girls with a look of sorrow and not angriness. Reed's heart started to race. What was wrong? What had happened?

"Ms. Potter, I require yours and James's presence in my office as soon as possible." And with that, McGonagall turned around, her thick winter robes spinning around her heels.

"J-James!" Reed called over the field.

"Did you get in trouble for calling Siri-Kins an Asshat?" James asked laughing.

"No… we have to go to McGonagall's office. Right now." Reed called back. She put her wand back in her winter jacket and rushed off towards the school, James trailing her close behind.

McGonagall was sitting at her desk, her head in her hands when James and Reed made it into her office. Her demeanor was worrying Reed by the second. The only other time McGonagall had acted like this was when she told them that her parents had died.

"Come here. Sit down." McGonagall said pointing to two chairs she had placed in front of her desk.

"I'd rather not." James said crossing his arms over his chest.

McGonagall gave him a trenchant look, James sat down. Reed sat down in the chair next to him. She passed him a worried look. She could feel his hand grip hers while it was hanging by the side of the chair.

"I am regretful to have to be the barer of bad news. Your sister, June Potter, and Aurors in her company were sent out yesterday to the Ministry of Magic. There had been an upset there. The escapees from Azkaban had infiltrated the department of magical mysteries. While I am allowed to tell this to James here, due to the fact that he is in the Order. I must make it clear to you Ms. Potter, that anything I say to you is not repeated."

Reed nodded her head, "I won't tell anyone a thing Professor." Reed promised.

"Your sister was in the department. Witnesses said that she helped capture at least four of the six escapees." McGonagall seemed to talk quieter the more she went on.

"And the other two?" Reed asked.

"The other two were the Corleones. I am so sorry. You'll be able to go home for a week for the memorial and the funeral. I am also exempting you from three of the N.E.W.T.'s that will take place in that week, you'll get E's on all of them."

"…Memorial… Funeral. What are you talking about?" Reed yelled jumping out of her seat and onto her feet.

"Your sister is dead Ms. Potter. I thought I had made that obvious." McGonagall's temper had gotten loose, her face fell as soon as she had said it, "I'm sorry, but you are being sent home in three days."

Reed looked down at James angrily, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

James looked up at her, his face was blank. He didn't look angry, sad, or upset. Nothing, "What is there to say Reed? I thought it was obvious. June is dead. Deal with it."

"Deal with it!" Reed yelled, "Our sister is dead James! Dead! And all you can say is deal with it!" Reed's face was growing red.

"The world isn't full of rainbows and butterflies Reed! You knew June was an Auror! You knew this could happen. So suck it up!"

"You," Reed said, her voice barely over a whisper, but still drenched with hate, "Are a horrible excuse for a brother." And with that Reed stormed out of the office, swishing her wand on the way out, the door shut with a loud bang.

"Mr. Potter, I must say that was an extremely insensitive thing to say to your sister. Have you forgotten that she has lost two sets of parents already, and now a sister?" McGonagall had gone all motherly on James, scolding him.

"Merlin!" James yelled, "Reed, Reed, Reed. What about me you old hag!" James yelled stomping out of the office.

McGonagall sat at her desk, quiet. She could understand that the two of them were upset. But did he really have to call her an old hag?

* * *

And this was the chapter where they were supposed to find out June was dead… I liked the other version better, but there were some things I wanted to include that were in this chapter so yeah… and nothing much was edited in the last chapter besides McGonagall not mentioning June's death.

Reviews are love.

This was edited to the Braveheart theme… yeah I'm a nerd…


	32. Please don't hate me!

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS!

I AM SO SORRY!

I seriously haven't even realized that I haven't updated in a month, and I promised faster updates. Time has gotten away from me recently since I graduated. There isn't enough of it anymore. I swear you will get an update within the week. I'll try to get two chapters out to hopefully make up for my accidental absence. I can tell you for sure that I'm not going on hiatus, at all. I'm just forgetful and stupid. Sorry guys!


	33. Winter Winds

Here's the next chapter guys! It' not going to be long until the end of this! Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me till this point! I really appreciate all of you more then you will know!

Chapter: Winter Winds

Warnings: Not this time.

* * *

When Lily entered the almost vacant girl's dormitory, she saw Reed sitting on the floor, packing a trunk of her things to take back home with her. June's funeral was soon, and like she had when their parents died, McGonagall was giving them extended leave. Lily crossed the room to stand beside her friend. Reed looked up when the footsteps got closer and gave Lily a small smile.

"Hey."

"Are you almost done? Do you need any help?" Lily asked crouching down to be level with Reed.

"No. I think I've got everything I want to take with me," Reed sighed, "You don't have to come if you don't want to. I know this is going to take a lot out of your time you were planning to use studying." Reed smiled apologetically.

"Reed, how could I possibly think of studying at a time like this? Besides I have to be there for James now as well."

Reed let out a soft chuckle, of course, she had almost forgotten for a second that they were together. Casting a spell over the trunk, Reed started to move her things out of the room, Lily following closely behind her. The two were met with Sirius, Ruby, Remus, and James when they got to the bottom floor. All of them had their stuff waiting at their feet, ready to go.

The trip to McGonagall's office was quiet, as all of the teens were focused on moving their belongings through the school. At least, that's what they pretended it was. In reality none of them knew what to say to each other. It had been different the first time around. They knew that condolences and quiet, "I'm sorrys" were okay. Now, I'm sorry and if there's anything I can do, wasn't going to cut it, and with James as volatile as he was recently, it was better if all of them said nothing at all.

The group stayed in the same manner they were as they entered the office, quiet and somewhat tense. Minerva looked their tired faces up and down, and as she was about to say something, decided against it. She handed the pot of floo powder to James first who took a handful and quietly, but clearly stated his traveling requests. The rest went the same way James did, quietly, until Reed was the only one left.

Minerva paused a moment before holding the pot out to her. Reed grabbed a handful and made her way over to the fireplace, "Ms. Potter?" Reed paused and looked up.

"I know… I know it doesn't always seem like it, but I am here to listen to and help my students in any way I can. If you ever need anything Ms. Potter…"

Reed gave her a small smile, "Thank you Professor." And with that she was whisked away to the Potter household.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When Reed woke the next morning to a gray sky, she knew the day was going to be miserable. Regardless it was already going to be like that, since the funeral was scheduled for later that day, but with the snow on the ground, and gray covering everything above, it had gotten twenty times worse for her.

Reed sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her black pantyhose on over her legs. Digging through her closet, she located a heavy winter dress that was black and slipped it on. Reaching behind her, she tried to fasten the buttons going down the backside of the garment, but to no avail.

"Do you need help with that?" Reed spun around, looking at Remus with wide eyes, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." He said with a sad smile on his face.

"No it's okay." Reed murmured, "and I would appreciate the help, thank you." She said a little louder, turning around to give Remus better access.

She felt his rough hands on the small of her back, slipping the buttons through the loops on the other side of the dress. If there was one comfort she still had, it was Remus. Sure, she had Lily, Ruby, James, and Sirius, but Remus was something completely different. Remus was private, she could completely let her guard down when he was around, she didn't have to think about what she was going to say, what she was going to do.

Soon Remus's hands were on her shoulders, having finished buttoning seconds earlier. They dug into the flesh there softly, soothingly. She felt herself relaxing, if only a little, and leaned back into the others touch. Remus stopped the slow ministrations and wrapped his arms around her waist instead, pulling her back so she was flush against his front. Reed let out a contented sigh and smiled when she felt his lips on her bare shoulders.

"Everything will be okay." Remus murmured into her ear soothingly, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

Reed clenched her eyes shut, trying to stave off the tears she knew were on their way. She placed her own hands above Remus's and clutched at them until she was sure her knuckles were going white. It was too much, everything was too much recently. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and so were her hormones. She didn't remember the last time she had been alone with Remus, it had been days, and suddenly she felt like they hadn't done enough touching in the past week.

Turning around, Reed wrapped her arms around the taller boy's neck and planted her lips right on his. She needed some kind of comfort, and this was the best way she was going to get it with how she was feeling at the moment. Remus seemed to realize this, because he didn't argue as he gently moved his own lips against Reeds, not that he would have argued anyways.

It was a while before the two of them separated, their need for air overriding their need to be close to each other. Reed buried her face in the crook of Remus's neck and stood there with his arms still wrapped around her for a while before the two of them moved.

"We should get downstairs." Remus said softly, rubbing circles in the back of Reed's back.

"Yeah. Okay." She muttered taking Remus's hand and following closely behind him down the stairs and into the living room.

She wasn't surprised when she saw everyone else was already down there, presumably waiting for her to finish up. They had probably sent Remus to get her now that she thought about it. She had been rather sluggish in everything that she'd done recently.

"Are we all ready to go now?" James asked gruffly.

The silence was enough of an answer for the group to head out the front door.

The ceremony was rather short and to the point, and the teens soon found themselves, distant family members, and coworkers of June's standing around a giant hole in the earth with a large black casket sitting next to it.

The snow was starting to seep into Reed's shoes, making her feet a little wet, and the cold chilly air was dampening her mood as well. Not that she expected to exactly be happy at the moment. Reed looked up when she felt a gentle nudging in her side. James was looking at her, already half way up to the lowered casket, flower ready to be thrown into the earth with it. Reed steeled herself and walked to stand next to James, taking his hand in hers. Together, they threw their flowers on their sister's grave, bidding her farewell.

When it was all over, and everyone had their chance to say goodbye, the teens were slowly exiting the cemetery.

"I think we all need some hot chocolate." Lily sighed as she drew her jacket around herself tighter, cuddling up next to James. The attention seemed to make him relax a little.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Reed said suddenly, "I want to stay here for a little bit longer."

Sirius frowned, "Are you sure? It's cold and your feet are soaked."

Reed gave him an appreciative look, "Yeah, I'll be okay."

James just sighed and Remus seemed to hesitate, almost like he thought she was going to do something stupid. She laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile, letting him know she would be okay. With a small frown, Remus patted her hand and walked away with the rest of the group. When she looked back and couldn't see them anymore, she spoke out, seemingly to herself.

"I saw you at the funeral."

And that was when he stepped out from behind one of the taller monuments. He was older, maybe around 40, had scraggly ginger hair that was going pale, and blue eyes, one was clear, and the other seemed to have been replaced with a glass eye. He seemed to have a limp too that would probably need a cane to help with later on in life.

"Yes, well, June was under my command."

Reed looked down at the ground before looking up again, "She was your student?" She remembered June talking about Mad-eye Moody, but she'd never seen the man before.

"She was. You were the only one who noticed I stayed behind."

"Yeah, well I tend to be observant. It's the one thing I can hold above the others." She mumbled.

"Don't mumble girl, I can't hear you. Listen, I saw your name on the list, and decided to deliver this in person." The man held out a manila envelope.

Reed reached out a hand and took it from him, clutching it to her chest, "Thank you." She said staring him in the eyes for the first time since they'd begun their talk.

"Don't get used to it." And before Reed could say anything more, Mad-eye had disapperated into the night.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table, mugs in their hands when Reed stepped into the door. She made sure to deposit the envelope Mad-eye had given her in her room before joining the rest of them. Remus passed her a mug that was waiting. She smiled thankfully and sat down in between him and Lily.

The silence seemed to be radiating off of everyone, no one wanting to say the first thing. Or to be the one to say something that would set another off. Honestly, the tense feeling she was getting from everyone was starting to worry Reed. She couldn't stand it anymore. She only had one blood related family member left, and her friends were her own make-shift family, if they couldn't be open with each other, who else did they have?

"It… It was a nice funeral. I think June would have been okay with it." Reed said finally, breaking the silence.

"Nice funeral seems like an oxymoron Reed." James scoffed, but everyone could see the small tug at the corners of his lips.

"Well, it wasn't exactly her style; otherwise there would have been a dance floor." Ruby said with an eyebrow lift.

Reed let out a small laugh, "That's true. I think we're all tired. So I'm going to be the first one to say I'm going to take a nap."

"I'll come with you." Remus murmured softly so only he, Reed, and Lily could hear him.

James eyed them until they were out of the kitchen. Lily just frowned, "Really James, I'm sure all they're going to do is sleep. I didn't think Reed was going to make it through the whole thing she looked so tired." James just scoffed unconvinced, it was his little sister, and he was supposed to be at least somewhat protective, right?

It would turn out that Lily was right however, and all Remus and Reed were doing was sleeping. Reed had shed her overcoat, boots, and head band and slipped underneath the covers where Remus was already laying. She would admit that she loved cuddling the most with Remus. He was good at it; it was like he was a giant teddy bear.

Once Reed had gotten comfortable, Remus wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly against him like he had that morning. Reed, once again, placed her own hands on top of his and tried to snuggle closer to him. He buried his face in the crook of her neck this time and placed a gentle kiss there.

"I've got you." He said soothingly, "Nothing will hurt you when I'm here."

Reed wasn't sure why, but she started crying then. The words had affected her somehow more than any other words had that whole past week. She could feel her body start to shake with her silent sobs, and Remus only drew her closer to him, kissing her neck and cheek and whispering "I love you" and "Please don't cry." into her ear.

Turning around so that she could face him, Reed wrapped her own arms around any part of him that she could reach while his came up to play absent-mindedly with her long blond curls. The murmurs of sweet nothings continued to echo softly in the room until Reed had succeeded in crying herself to sleep.

* * *

If any of you want to see the outfit Reed was wearing the funeral its right here, just take out the spaces:

http : / www .polyvore. com / cgi /set?id = 33854551

I'll be posting more things under this account just for Falling.


	34. So Long Lonesome

I'm so sorry that its taken this long for me to upload another chapter, and this one is going to skip a looooot of time. The kids were in their 6th year when June died, and now we're about to start their seventh year of school, so we skipped about eight months. Okay so here we go.

* * *

Winter had come and gone, and then spring had too, summer had started, and now it was almost fall. Reed had been astonished at the speed of which time had passed after June's funeral. The teens had been away from each other all summer with the exception of Sirius, Reed, and James who all lived together in James and Reed's parent's house. The three teens were currently laying on the floor in the living room, Reed in shorts and a tank top, and James and Sirius in nothing but a pair of cotton shorts.

"It's too hot in here." Reed huffed lifting her head up and reaching behind her so she could tie her hair up in a ponytail.

"It was only 23 degrees out last week." James whined turning over on his stomach.

Reed looked up to see the small thermometer stuck to the glass of the sliding doors, 35 degrees. She wasn't sure how they hadn't gotten heat stroke yet. When June or their parents had been alive, at least they had been able to place charms around the house to keep it cool. The teenagers had no way of using magic outside of school since all three of them were still underage.

"How many days until we go back to school?" Sirius asked lazily, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"It's Friday," Reed muttered, "We leave Sunday morning."

Reed sighed appreciatively, only two days left until they would leave for school and she wouldn't be stuck in a house with two boys the entire time. She loved James, and Sirius was like another brother to her, but without Lily and Ruby there to keep them in line, it was hard to deal with them.

There were always clothes laying on the floor, and there was always food out on the kitchen counter, and it seemed like neither of them knew the meaning of personal hygiene, or that if you laid a wet towel on a chair that had a fabric cover it would leave a water mark on it. All summer she had felt she was babysitting two children and not living with two grown men the exact same age as her.

Then there was the problem of not having seen Remus since the beginning of summer. The two of them had been making plans the entire vacation, but for some reason they all seemed to be falling through. Reed had begun thinking it was her fault, and maybe once summer started and Remus wasn't around her as much, he realized how much he enjoyed being alone instead of tied down in a relationship.

Reed sighed and turned over on her side to watch Sirius and James. The two of them were still sprawled out on the floor. James cracked open an eye and looked at Reed. He smiled at her, "What's up Reedy?" he asked lazily.

"Just bored with being home is all." Reed murmured.

Sirius laughed, "I never thought I would say this, but I miss school," He paused for a moment before adding, "Not that I don't enjoy being home with you two, but you know, I'm missing our other friends."

Reed nodded her head, and rolled back over. There was only two days left until she would see Lily and Ruby again, until she would see Remus again. Everything would be fine again. Reed closed her eyes, still facing the two boys. Maybe she could take a nap. At least then a couple of hours would have gone by and she would be that much closer to seeing the rest of her friends again.

"How bad do you think it's going to get?"

"We have great and powerful wizards on our side, I'm sure this can't go on for much longer."

Reed slowly opened her eyes, a little disoriented, realizing that she was just waking up from her nap. She sat up, a blanket that hadn't been there sliding off of her shoulders and pooling in her lap. James or Sirius must have moved her from the floor and onto the couch after she had fallen asleep.

"If that's your logic James, shouldn't this have been over by now?" Reed turned herself around so that she was looking into the kitchen.

Sirius and James were standing behind the counter, mugs of something cradled in their hands as James clutched an issue of the Daily Prophet. Reed hadn't been exactly sure of what they had been talking about, but she was sure of it now as she read the large headline on the front of the paper, "Eight more found dead: Muggle born." Reed wasn't sure how many innocent witches and wizards, as well as Muggles had been killed so far, but she knew the count from the week was up to 52 including the eight from that day.

Things had been getting progressively worse since the New Year had been rung in. Reed wasn't sure when everything had started to go to hell. She remembered being in her first, second, third, and half of her fourth year being happy, and completely innocent to any of the mass wrong doings of her people. It had been half way through her fourth year when the first murder had taken place, and then the second and third, and by her fifth year there were a 100 odd deaths that had happened.

Of course hate crimes like that had always been normal, and Reed had always grown up knowing about them. Never before had they been so organized and been committed by the same group of people. Before she had even known it, they were calling it a war, and her parents and sister had been killed and now she and James were the only Potters left. Time had passed her by in her safe secluded world at Hogwarts. She was turning seventeen in a month, a grown adult in the wizarding world, and she was just now realizing the weight of the problems of her society. If anyone would ever come to ask her, Reed would have told them that it was this very instance in which she had realized she was an adult, and it was going to hit her fast whether or not she liked it.

"Reedy, when did you wake up?" Sirius asked looking over at the blond; James looked up, surprised and quickly threw the Prophet in the garbage bin.

"Just a moment ago. What were you two talking about?" She asked, slipping her legs out from underneath the blanket, standing, and stretching her sore limbs.

"It was nothing Reedy, just some stupid article in the daily Prophet is all." James said smiling softly at her.

"James, I heard you two talking about the war…"

"Reed, it was nothing, I swear-" Whatever James was going to say after that was cut short as a curt knocking came from the front door.

"I'll go and get it." Reed muttered, a little annoyed that James wouldn't tell her something she already knew.

Reed could hear Sirius reprimanding her brother as she left the living room and walked down the hallway to the front door. There was another knock just as she was reaching the door and another as she started to unlock it.

"I'm coming! Merlin, hold your horses." It was already 6 in the evening, what could anyone possibly be so impatient about. Reed finally unhinged the last lock on her front door and pulled it open. Looking up, she screamed.

Standing before her was Lily Evans and Ruby Taylor, both with trunks and owls in hand. Reed could feel her eyes start to tingle with the familiar sensation of tears starting to form. At least this time they were finally tears of joy, and not sadness or uneasiness. Lily let a huge grin settle on her face.

"Are you just going to stare at the two of us all day, or let us in?" She asked.

"Oh. Oh yeah, come on in, my fault. Terribly sorry." Reed wiped at her eyes, brushing away the tears that hadn't yet fallen.

"Completely alright Reedy," Ruby smiled wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders as they walked into the kitchen together.

They had barely gotten half way into the room before the boys saw them and broke into huge smiles and booming laughs. James set his cup down and nearly ran over to where Lily was standing, scooping her up into his arms and swinging her around.

"Hey there Darling." He smiled lowering her so that she could touch the ground on tip toes.

"Hey there yourself." Lily smiled back placing a quick, but very heartfelt kiss on the other teenager's lips.

"Gross, take it to your room." Ruby said from the other side of the room where Sirius was currently hugging her as well.

"When did the two of you decide to come without being invited?" Sirius asked jokingly.

"Probably about four hours ago." Lily said rather seriously, her face had fallen slightly.

Reed could tell she looked a little worried, "How about you two come upstairs and put your things away while Sirius and James make us all a little something to eat." Reed suggested, sending a look towards the boys.

"Sure, that sounds nice." Ruby said picking her things back up and following Reed and Lily upstairs to Reed's room.

Once the two girls had put their things down and changed into more comfortable clothing, Reed sprung the question, "What happened Lily?"

"How do you know it was something wrong with me!' Lily asked indignantly.

"Please, you'd think I haven't known you since our first year at Hogwarts."

When Lily didn't speak up, Ruby did for her, "Her sister was being a right twat."

"RUBY!" Lily nearly screamed.

"What? It's true! She made you cry and everything! I don't understand why you even talk to her anymore. If my sister did that to me, I would have hit her."

"What did she do?" Reed asked, her interest and concern piqued.

"Ruby had come over this morning. We were going to surprise you guys and come tomorrow to spend a day before we left for Hogwarts. Mum and Dad were so excited to be meeting another witch, especially a pureblood like Ruby. We were having so much fun with them asking her questions and what not, it was actually turning out to be a pretty happy evening."

"Until her sister decided to be the most unintelligent woman I have ever had the displeasure to meet. As soon as Lily's parents were out of the room, Petunia started calling Lily things like freak, and how she was happy this was her last year at Hogwarts so she wouldn't have to see her at home anymore during the breaks. Poor Lily ran up to her room crying."

"I don't know what you expected me to do!" Lily said trying to defend herself, "She's my older sister! My only sister! You don't abandon family, no matter how angry they are with you!"

"You should have seen her Reedy, she wasn't angry with Lily, she down right acted like she hated her, her own sister! You're right, family is family Lily, but you don't have to love them." Ruby said crossing her arms.

"Of course you have to! If you can't love your family who can you love?"

"Do you expect Sirius to love Bellatrix?" Reed asked after a moment of silence.

The three girls sat on the floor, thinking about it before Lily sighed, "I suppose not, but my sister has never killed anyone."

"She's just an ignorant wench." Ruby said hotly, "If I had been 17 already, I would have hexed her all the way to next year!"

"Well whatever happened with your sister, you can forget about it now." Reed said leaning over and taking Lily's hands in hers, "You two are here with us now, and we're going to school for the last time. We're going to have fun. We're going to get into trouble that was probably entirely James' and Sirius' fault. We're going to pass our N.E.W.T.S. because you make us study. We're going to go out with a bang. Then we're going to graduate, and go our separate ways, but keep in touch because we all love each other." Reed took a small breath, "Do you understand? It doesn't matter what happened this morning, because it's in the past and there's nothing you can do to change it. So we're going to make the best of it, because you two are here hours before you were originally planning. So, let's go downstairs and have fun for the rest of the night, okay?"

Lily smiled, wiping away a stray tear that had formed during Reed's small pep talk, "Right. It's in the past and there's nothing I can do about it. You're absolutely right, let's go have fun." Lily said squeezing Reed's hands as the three of them went back to the kitchen.

* * *

I am so sorry its taken me so long to update. I know this was a filler chapter, and so it was probably really boring to you guys, but the next chapter they're going to school and things are going to pick up! I promise! Read and Review, they mean a lot to me


	35. Clarifications

Hey guys! I just wanted to clear a few things up! First, thank you to whoever pointed out the fact that I called Lily Lily potter in one of the chapters, as you know, I'm currently Beta less for this story, and as I'm in college right now I don't have a lot of time to edit before I post because I'm already behind.

Secondly, it was also pointed out that I mentioned they were in their seventh year at Hogwarts in the 21st chapter in a short author's note at the top, this is true, I did say this, but later on I mentioned how I used the wrong version of the chapter, so please ignore that, they were in their 6th year at the time! I'm really sorry for the confusion! Just bear with me! As soon as I have all of the chapters up, I'm going to go back and edit all of them so it's easier for you to follow, I promise!

Thank you so much for everyone whose stuck with me so far, I appreciate it so much!


End file.
